Buckwheat Pasta with Gorgonzola Sauce + Riffs
The Energetics of Food. We Are All Made of Stars.
12 October 2023, Contigliano
Food is more than simply fuel. It imparts a living wisdom that is beyond the science and mechanics of calories, grams, and nutrient values. Ancient peoples, through their relationships with the plants and animals providing their food, understood that their food conveyed the unique energetic qualities of its source, such as swiftness from wild deer and groundedness from root vegetables. With the rise of agribusiness and industrial food production, people have become disconnected from the sources of their food and are no longer able to register the subtle rhythms, harmony, and energies that food can convey. This separation has thrown the basic human-food relationship out of balance--to the detriment of human consciousness. - Steve Gagné, author and nutritional counselor
We were walking out of the Fratelli Nurzia in L’Aquila on a frigid spring morning when I spotted a large, ripe, and very flirtatious blue veined form of Gorgonzola on full display in the window of the gourmet food shop a few doors down. It was hard not to accept its creamy invitation so when Riccardo exited the shop with our purchase, his friend, a resident L’Aquilano with a penchant for good food, told us that the Gorgonzola would make an excellent sauce for pasta. “And how so?” I asked. “You simply melt it down in a pot with a bit of milk” he responded. And so we did. And it was good.
It was a learning moment that I think of often, especially when I’m melting Gorgonzola in this way to create thick rivers in golden soft polenta and to perfectly coat snowy mounds of potato gnocchi and plates of ‘pasta corta’. It’s what cheesy adult dreams are made of.
These dimmer days are still unseasonably hot here in Central Italy, but last week when the cool foggy mornings started to roll in to cover everything that is golden, I found myself with a strong craving for this cheese.
One afternoon after the children had started school full-time, Riccardo and I found ourselves home alone with empty stomachs and an equally empty fridge. So to remedy the situation, I carefully melted down the last of my purchase in a pan with the idea of adding some buckwheat pasta. For those of you who aren’t familiar with buckwheat, it’s a robust, earthy and slightly bitter naturally gluten-free pseudo-grain. Here in Italy, it is mostly grown in the North and associated with the regional cooking of these regions. I find that it marries well with strong flavours, especially those of pungent Alpine cheese.
As I poured the pasta from the box into the bubbling salty pot, I started to think about the Energetics of Food.
I became familiar with this concept while studying long distance with the Institute of Integrative Nutrition in NYC, and I took this road a little over ten years ago in order to further my knowledge and interest in the healing power of food. At the time we were living in Calabria, and I looked out of our office window onto Stromboli smoking into the middle of the Mediterranean Sea as I listened to lectures on the many fringe health topics that are now becoming mainstream. Steve Gagné’s lecture on the Energetics of Food was pivotal, and it completely changed my consciousness around what we eat and why.
In his book, Food Energetics: The Spiritual, Emotional, and Nutritional Power of What We Eat, Steve provides us with an in-depth exploration of this principal tradition of Chinese medicine that relates how food affects the body encouraging us to see our diets from the perspective of the ancient peoples, who understood how the energetic qualities of food affect both physical and spiritual health.
Yes, it was Hippocrates, the father of medicine from ancient Greece, who said “Let food be thy medicine, and let medicine be thy food”, but this life energy has also been revered in Eastern medicine for thousands of years, as chi in China and as prana in Sanskrit.
Sun Si-miao, a great medical scientist of China in the Tang Dynasty believed that only those adept in dietary therapy could be called superb physicians and wrote that they “should first understand the pathogenesis of the disease, and then treat it with diet, using medicines only when food fails” - Thousand Gold Remedies for Emergencies
While this ‘science of nature’ is a vast enough area of study that I couldn’t begin to cover here, I do hope to prompt your curiosity around this concept if it is one that you are not already familiar with. It is helpful for all of us to question the origins of our food and the energy that it brings to our being.
So what energy does Gorgonzola and Buckwheat bring to the table?
Gorgonzola, in both its ‘dolce’ and ‘piccante’ forms hovers at the top of many international cheese awards, and therefore is considered one of the world’s best. Although Gorgonzola is not classed as an Alpine cheese, Lombardia has been, for centuries, the primary area of this cheese’s production. It was a place where well-nourished herds used to pass on their return from alpine pastures as they headed toward the plains.
All handmade artisan cheese is made of milk, a powerful life-giving substance in itself. When we consume it, we are not just consuming a piece of cheese, we assimilate into our own vibration all of the energy that is embodied in the cheese itself. This energy also includes the unique and irreproducible properties and characteristics of a territory or place that culminated in a perfect moment for its creation.
These characteristics include the beneficial microorganisms, the quality of the soil and the sun, the aromas of the grass, herbs and flowers, the weather patterns, the feelings of the animal and the experience of their journey as well as the love and passion of the farmer and the cheesemaker. All of this and more are embodied in a piece of artisan cheese. When we consume this type of cheese together with local produce and other artisan creations, we are also making a political statement by supporting regenerative food systems, local and rural economies and traditional ways of life.
The energy that cheese brings can be seen as nourishing or harmful based on our own unique body types and conditions at this moment in time. Cheese possesses ‘the sweet flavour’ which is moistening and increases heat in the body. In excess, it can cause the formation of phlegm, dampness and heat that is aggravating.
For many, a DOP (Protected Designation of Origin) certified Gorgonzola brings pleasure to the palette and it is also naturally lactose-free.
Buckwheat, known as Grano Saraceno in Italian, was prescribed to me by an Italian health practitioner this past summer and I immediately knew why.
It is unique to find a drying astringent that also heating, but we've found it in buckwheat. It is ideal for watery kapha dosha due to its diuretic ability to reduce water weight and dry up mucus in the respiratory tract. It lowers blood sugar levels and has even been used for lowering blood pressure. Several studies have also shown that buckwheat improves insulin uptake in cells, which may be useful in insulin resistant diabetes. – Joyful Belly
After seven years of living on Ireland’s wild, wet and windy Southwest coast in weather that has revealed itself to be quite aggravating to my body and spirit, my doctor definitely understood that I needed some ‘drying out’. The consumption of buckwheat may also be useful to you or those you love for all of the medicinal and energetic qualities listed above.
Ugo Tognazzi, Italian actor, director, and screenwriter recounts a humourous story about his father and Gorgonzola in his book L'abbuffone. Storie da ridere e ricette da morire. The recipe that follows includes a very rich Gorgonzola sauce which also utilizes butter, cream and brandy to boot.
The great Marcella Hazan, tells us that Gorgonzola must be purchased fresh and ripe for cooking, and if refrigerated, it must be left out at least six hours before using. She suggests that her Gorgonzola sauce, which also includes butter and cream, is at its peak when enjoyed with handmade fettuccine.
With that said, I enjoy this sauce in its simplest form so as not to ruin the purity of the flavour profile that a good slice of Gorgonzola brings. This also makes this sauce accessible to those who are on lactose-free, gluten-free, grain-free and vegetarian diets.
Gorgonzola and buckwheat enjoyed in moderation together or on their own are comforting ingredients that pair so well with all that is here for us to eat right now and throughout the autumn and winter seasons. Think combinations of roasted, braised and toasted produce such as figs, grapes, apples and pears, pumpkin, potatoes, radicchio, leek, walnuts and hazelnuts, rosemary or sage together with an array of winter brassicas and greens. Any of these ingredients can be added to the blank canvas of this dish to bring it to the next level. Not a buckwheat fan? You can swap in any type of pasta that strikes your fancy.
Buckwheat Pasta with Gorgonzola Sauce
Pasta al gorgonzola
LF. GF. GrF. V.
Serves 2
Ingredients:
160 g buckwheat short pasta
150 g Gorgonzola dolce
5 tbsp of regular or lactose-free milk
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method:
1. Bring a medium pot of water to a boil, add salt and return to the boil. Add your pasta and stir.
2. Gently warm the milk in a medium frying pan over a low flame. Remove the rind from the Gorgonzola, cut it into cubes and add it to the milk.
3. Continue to gently heat until the ingredients have melted together, stirring with a wooden spoon to combine. Add any extra ingredients here if using and check for seasoning. Remove from heat and keep warm.
4. Drain the pasta when it is al dente and reserve some cooking water. Add the pasta to the sauce and toss to combine over low heat.
5. Add another few drops of warm milk or reserved cooking water to loosen if required.
Notes:
80-100 grams of pasta is the suggested serving for an adult. You can slightly up the ingredients for a more generous portion.
Such a beautifully curated edition / newsletter :)
This is so beautifully written. I love buckwheat pasta.