Known as pasta alla cenere in Italy, this easy gorgonzola pasta with olives is a deliciously creamy gourmet dish that only has 3 main ingredients. Plus, it takes less than 30 minutes to make! Perfect as an evening treat and special enough to serve to guests!
What does alla cenere mean?
Cenere in Italian means ashes or ashes. Although the origin of pasta alla cenere is uncertain, some Italian food writers say the name comes from the chopped olives in this dish, which resemble “ashes”. Given that Italy is home to a number of active volcanoes, it makes sense.


Regardless of its origin, I found a lot of Italian blogs and food sites with a recipe for pasta alla cenere, so it’s obviously a popular Gorgonzola pasta recipe! I admit, I hadn’t eaten it before, but we love gnocchi or pasta with gorgonzola! At first I wasn’t sure about combining gorgonzola with olives, but wow they go together beautifully. I’m sure you’ll agree if you try it!
What is the origin of Gorgonzola?
Gorgonzola is a very old Italian cheese that dates back to Roman times. Some food historians say it was first made in 879 AD. in the northern Italian town of Gorgonzola, close to Milan. Yes, there is a town called Gorgonzola!


However, others believe that Gorgonzola was born in Pasturo, a town in Valsassina in Lombardy. Either way, it is the town that gave Gorgonzola its name that remains the most famous, even though it is no longer a center of Gorgonzola production.
Nowadays, Gorgonzola is produced all year round, but it was originally made in autumn with cow’s milk from herds brought down to the Po Valley from their summer grazing in the Alps.


Apparently, the people of Gorgonzola and the surrounding farms started making this cheese to preserve all the cow’s milk that was available over a short period of time.
This first Gorgonzola cheese was called ‘stracchino’, which means tired in Italian. This was a reference to the milk that came from cows that were exhausted from their long trek south!


You can find out more about the history and production of Gorgonzola on the website of the Italian Consortium for the Protection of Gorgonzola Cheese. They also have lots of great recipes and not just for gorgonzola pasta!
What is the difference between Gorgonzola dolce and Gorgonzola piccante?
Gorgonzola lovers will know that there are 2 types of this cheese, dolce (meaning sweet) and piccante (meaning spicy). Gorgonzola dolce is softer and only slightly spicy. Gorgonzola piccante is obviously spicier, plus its more blue-veined, thicker and crumbly.


According to the Gorgonzola Consortium website, both types are made with pasteurized cow’s milk, milk enzymes and selected molds that give the cheese its blue/green streaks. Sweet Gorgonzola dolce is matured for 50-150 days, whereas spicy Gorgonzola piccante is matured for 80-270 days.
Is Gorgonzola a blue cheese?
Gorgonzola is a blue cheese, but it is softer, milder and creamier than most other types. It is interesting that outside of Italy these cheeses are called blue cheeses. The Italians refer to them as ‘formaggio verde’, which means green cheese!


The gorgonzola in this pasta alla cenere recipe.
Most Italian recipes for this gorgonzola pasta with olives call for sweet Gorgonzola (dolce). This is what I used. However, I have seen pasta alla cenere recipes made with spicy Gorgonzola (piccante). So if that’s what you have, I think it would work well too. This is truly a pasta recipe for Gorgonzola lovers. But if you’re not, you can replace the blue cheese with ricotta.
Olives in this Gorgonzola pasta recipe.
This recipe has black olives. I used my favorites, taggiasca olives. These are more dark brown/green than black. They come from Liguria, especially the Alpes-Maritimes area and are also known as cailletier olives. Taggiasca is the same type of olive that the French use in salad Niçoise.


You can of course use other types of black olives. Some Italians cheat a little and use ready-made coarse olive pâté. The recipe I followed called for pitted and finely chopped olives.
I chopped them with a knife, but you can also give them a whirl in a food processor. Be careful not to puree them though. You want those bits of olives in your pasta alla cenere!
Make this recipe vegetarian.
As I mentioned above, this recipe is super easy to make and only has 3 main ingredients. Apart from gorgonzola and olives, you only need some milk or cream to make the creamy sauce. You can also add some grana or parmigiano to thicken the sauce or when serving. But neither these two cheeses nor Gorgonzola are vegetarian because they have animal rennet in them.


To make a vegetarian version of this recipe, use vegetarian parmesan and blue cheese. Some types of blue cheese are definitely made without animal rennet. Italian dolcelatte is closest to Gorgonzola. English Stilton is vegetarian and some versions of Danish Blue are too. Apparently there are quite a few other vegetarian blue cheeses on the market. So check the labels or ask your cheesemonger.


The pasta used in this recipe.
Pasta alla cenere is most often made with pasta tubes such as rigatoni or penne. I used penne pasta from one of my favorite pasta companies from Gragnano, Di Martino. Gragnano is a town close to Naples that has been a pasta-making center for about 500 years.
I went there a few years ago at the invitation of a subsidiary of Di Martino called Pastificio dei Campi. If you want to learn more about Gragnano and the pasta made there, check out the post about my visit.


A super quick gourmet recipe!
Normally, we imagine that gourmet dishes are complex and time-consuming to prepare. This easy Gorgonzola pasta recipe with olives is incredibly simple, and yet the result is a dish you’d be happy to have in an upscale Italian restaurant!
Step by step instructions.
1) Bring a large pot of water to the boil for the pasta. Add salt when it starts to boil and bring back to a boil. Cook the pasta al dente according to the instructions on the package.
2) Hollow out and chop the olives into small pieces and cut the skin off the Gorgonzola and cut it into pieces.
3) Melt the Gorgonzola in the milk or cream over low heat in a deep frying pan or large pot.
4) Then add olives and some fresh thyme or marjoram to the cheese sauce. Finally, add the cooked al dente pasta plus a little starchy pasta cooking water to the sauce, mix over medium heat and serve immediately. So easy and so delicious!


If you make this recipe, I’d love to hear how it turns out and if you liked it. Feel free to write a comment here on the blog or on The Pasta Project Facebook page. Looking forward to hearing from you!
Good appetite!
Other Gorgonzola Pasta Recipes to Try.
- Gnocchi with gorgonzola 5 ways
- Gnocchi with gorgonzola and radicchio
- Short fusilli bucati with gorgonzola, mushrooms and spots