Bowtie pasta with Gouda sauce turned out to be just what the doctor ordered.

Down with a cold and confined to bed, I was dreaming of something comforting all day like a mac and cheese or a chowder. After finally getting down from bed, a raid of the fridge revealed a sad lack of vegetables, so pasta was the de facto choice. There are no frozen treats handy here, like Stouffer’s or AMy’s mac and cheese, so I prepared myself to slave some over the kitchen stove, telling myself the heat and steam would only help my cold.

I had wanted to try the Amul Gouda cheese for a long time, but hesitated since most stores don’t have any refrigeration that lasts 24 hours and who knows what happens during the power cuts? The same applies to buying any expensive imported cheeses. But I had finally taken the plunge this weekend and bought some of the Gouda.

A simple cheesy sauce with bowties seemed to be a good test run for the cheese.
The pasta or the cheese is of course just a ‘method’ as Rachael Ray so often says. You can use any pasta on hand, made from anything. You can also use any cheese you want or any ready made blend you may have. I think I remember one ’30 minutes’ episode where Rachael made a sauce with smoked gouda and added chipotle peppers. That must definitely have been the inspiration for my sauce, although I used simple or unsmoked gouda and had no chipotle peppers on hand.

The small voice in my head that kept screaming ‘what, no veggies ????’ was pacified by adding some chopped olives and tomatoes. Herb De Provence, my favorite spice blend from the 365 brand, gave this a rosemary intensive flavor. You can of course use any dry or fresh herbs like basil, oregano etc.

The recipe for Bowtie Pasta in Gouda sauce is as follows –

[amd-zlrecipe-recipe:22]

Oh yes, the Amul gouda cheese gets a lot of points from me. Though I am not a big cheese fan, it did have a different flavor, and was slightly bitter and sharp. Tasting something like this in India was very welcome, after all the waxy looking and salty ‘processed cheeses’ that seem to be omnipresent.

This cheese did Not taste like the good old ‘cheese cubes’ and hence seems promising. Costing around 90Rs for a 250 g wheel, it also does not break the bank. Update – Go cheese has a Gouda cheese packet that is equally promising. Sharp and strong, it works great in this cheese sauce.

Have you ever tried this kind of sauce, or this cheese? What is your favorite comfort food when you are ill?