[ad_1]
Referred to as pasta alla cenere in Italy, this simple gorgonzola pasta with olives is a scrumptious creamy connoisseur dish that has solely 3 major components. Plus, it takes lower than half-hour to make! Good as a weeknight deal with and particular sufficient to serve to friends!
What does alla cenere imply?
Cenere in Italian means ashes or cinders. Though the origins of pasta alla cenere are unsure, some Italian meals writers say the identify comes from the chopped olives on this dish which appear to be ‘ashes’. Provided that Italy is dwelling to quite a lot of energetic volcanoes, this is smart, I assume.
No matter its origins, I discovered quite a lot of Italian blogs and meals websites with a recipe for pasta alla cenere, so it’s clearly a well-liked dish! I confess, I hadn’t eaten it earlier than, however we love gnocchi or pasta with gorgonzola! At first, I wasn’t positive about combining gorgonzola with olives however wow they go collectively superbly. I’m positive you’ll agree should you strive it!
What are the origins of Gorgonzola?
Gorgonzola is a really previous Italian cheese that dates again to Roman occasions. Some meals historians say that it was first made in 879 AD within the Northern Italian city of Gorgonzola, near Milan. Sure, there’s a city known as Gorgonzola!
Nonetheless, others imagine Gorgonzola was born in Pasturo, a city within the Valsassina in Lombardy. Both manner, it’s the city that gave the cheese its identify that is still essentially the most well-known although it’s not a middle of Gorgonzola manufacturing.
These days, Gorgonzola is produced all 12 months spherical, however it was initially made within the autumn with milk from cows that had been introduced right down to the Po Valley from their summer time grazing within the Alps.
Apparently, the folks of Gorgonzola and the encircling farms started making cheese in an effort to preserve all of the milk that was out there over a brief time period.
This primary cheese was known as ‘stracchino’, which means drained in Italian This was a reference to the milk that got here from cows that have been exhausted after their lengthy migration south!
Yow will discover out extra concerning the historical past and manufacturing of Gorgonzola on the web site of the Italian consortium for the safety of Gorgonzola cheese. Additionally they have tons of nice recipes and never only for gorgonzola pasta!
What’s the distinction between Gorgonzola dolce and Gorgonzola piccante?
Gorgonzola lovers will know that there are 2 kinds of this cheese, dolce (which means candy) and piccante (which means spicy). Candy Gorgonzola is softer and solely barely spicy. Gorgonzola piccante is clearly spicier, plus its extra blue-veined, thicker and crumblier.
Based on the Gorgonzola consortium web site, each sorts are made with pasteurised milk, milk enzymes and chosen moulds that give the cheese its blue/inexperienced streaks. Candy Gorgonzola is matured for 50-150 days, whereas spicy Gorgonzola is matured for 80-270 days.
Is Gorgonzola a blue cheese?
Gorgonzola is a blue cheese however it’s softer, milder and creamier than most different sorts. It’s fascinating that exterior of Italy these cheeses are known as blue cheeses. Italians consult with them as ‘formaggio verde’, which means inexperienced cheese!
The cheese on this pasta alla cenere recipe.
Most Italian recipes for this gorgonzola pasta with olives name for candy Gorgonzola (dolce). That’s what I used. Nonetheless, I’ve seen pasta alla cenere recipes made with spicy Gorgonzola (piccante). So, if that’s what you will have, I feel it might work properly too. That is actually a pasta recipe for Gorgonzola lovers. However, if you’re not, you may substitute the blue cheese with ricotta.
The olives on this Gorgonzola pasta recipe.
This recipe has black olives. I used my favourites, taggiasca olives. These are extra darkish brown/inexperienced than black. They arrive from Liguria significantly the Alpes-Maritimes space and are also referred to as cailletier olives. Taggiasca are the identical sort of olives the French use in salad Niçoise.
In fact, you should utilize different kinds of black olives. Some Italians cheat a bit and make the most of ready-made coarse olive paté. The recipe I adopted known as for pitted and finely chopped olives. I chopped them with a knife, however you can too give them a whirl in a meals processor. Nonetheless, watch out to not purée them. You need these items of olives in your pasta alla cenere!
Making this recipe vegetarian.
As I discussed above, this recipe is tremendous simple to make and has solely 3 major components. Aside from the gorgonzola and olives, all you want is a few milk or cream to make the sauce. You can even add some grana or Parmigiano to thicken the sauce or when serving. However, neither these two cheeses nor Gorgonzola are vegetarian as a result of they’ve animal rennet in them.
To make a vegetarian model of this recipe, you’ll want to make use of vegetarian parmesan and blue cheese. Some kinds of blue cheese are positively made with out animal rennet. Italian dolcelatte is the closest to Gorgonzola. English Stilton is vegetarian.
Stilton does have fairly a powerful, sharp flavour however is value attempting. Apparently, there are a variety of different vegetarian blue cheeses in the marketplace. So, verify the labels or ask your cheesemonger.
The pasta used on this recipe.
Pasta alla cenere is most frequently made with pasta tubes like rigatoni or penne. I used penne rigate from considered one of my favorite pasta firms from Gragnano, Di Martino. Gragnano is a city near Naples that’s been a pasta making centre for about 500 years. I went there a few years in the past on the invitation of a subsidiary firm of Di Martino known as Pastificio dei Campi. If you wish to study extra about Gragnano and the pasta made there, you may take a look at the publish about my go to.
A brilliant-fast connoisseur recipe!
Usually we think about connoisseur dishes to be complicated and time consuming to make. This simple Gorgonzola pasta with olives is unbelievably easy and but the result’s a dish you’d be glad to have in an upmarket Italian restaurant!
All it’s worthwhile to do (other than cooking the pasta) is chop the olives and soften the Gorgonzola into the milk or cream. Then add the olives and a few recent thyme or marjoram to the cheese sauce. Lastly add the pasta plus some pasta cooking water to the sauce, combine and serve. Really easy and so scrumptious!
For those who make this recipe I’d love to listen to the way it seems and should you appreciated it. Please depart a remark right here on the weblog or on The Pasta Undertaking Fb web page. Trying ahead to listening to from you!
Buon appetito!
Straightforward Gorgonzola Pasta with Olives (pasta alla cenere)
Referred to as pasta alla cenere in Italy, this simple gorgonzola pasta with olives is a scrumptious creamy connoisseur dish that has solely 3 major components. Plus, it takes lower than half-hour to make! Good as a weeknight deal with and particular sufficient to serve to friends!
Components
- 400 g penne or rigatoni pasta (14oz) or different pasta tubes
- 300 g Gorgonzola Dolce (10.5oz) or vegetarian blue cheese or ricotta
- 200 ml full fats milk or recent cream (7floz)
- 100 g black olives (3.5oz) pitted and chopped. I used taggiasca olives
- 1 sprig recent marjoram or thyme optionally available
- 50 g Parmigiano Reggiano or grana (2oz) grated or vegetarian parmesan.
- salt for pasta.
Directions
Cook dinner this recipe.
-
Put a pot of water onto boil for the pasta. Add salt as soon as it begins to boil and produce to the boil once more.
-
When you boil the pasta water, put the milk/cream and items of Gorgonzola right into a deep skillet. Cook dinner over a low warmth, stirring constantly till the cheese has melted.
-
Add the chopped olives after which some recent marjoram or thyme if utilizing. Combine and prepare dinner on a really low warmth for an additional minute. You’ll be able to add some grated Parmigiano to thicken the sauce if essential or simply to make it much more tacky!
-
Cook dinner the pasta al dente in accordance with the directions on the packet. Save a cup of the pasta cooking water and drain the pasta. If the sauce appears thick add some pasta cooking water, stir, after which add the pasta. Combine the pasta and sauce collectively properly and serve instantly with grated Parmigiano or grana if required.
Notes
To make a vegetarian model of this pasta recipe, you’ll want to make use of vegetarian parmesan and blue cheese. Gorgonzola isn’t vegetarian, however some kinds of blue cheese are. Italian dolcelatte is the closest to Gorgonzola. English Stilton is vegetarian too.
Different Gorgonzola pasta recipes to strive.
- Gnocchi with gorgonzola 5 methods
- Gnocchi with gorgonzola and radicchio
- Quick fusilli bucati with gorgonzola, mushrooms and speck
In case you are taken with studying methods to make selfmade pasta and several types of gnocchi, take a look at my store web page for some nice video on-line programs from my pals in Rome! Nothing beats studying to make pasta from Italians! Plus when you’re there why not order a duplicate of considered one of my pasta recipe cookbooks or checkout some advisable pasta making instruments? All nice prezzies for pasta lovers!
[ad_2]
