I love a simple pasta for throwing together quickly on busy week nights. This Penne alla Pera is fashioned after one of my favorite dishes at my favorite Italian restaurants,
Le Nonne. It’s an old victorian house turned restaurant run by an Italian chef from Tuscany and it has some of the best Italian food I’ve found.
On a busy night last week, I knew I didn’t have much time to make something but didn’t want to settle for something ordinary and casual, either. This is actually a pretty common problem for me and this Penne alla Pera was the answer.
The dish is simple: While you cook the penne, diced pears and fresh rosemary are sauteed in a little butter. Pour in a little white wine and after it evaporates, the cream. Once the cream thickens and reduces the sauce is taken off the heat and crumbled gorgonzola is stirred in.
That’s it. Toss is with the cooked pasta and in only 15 minutes you have an elegant pasta dish. You can’t go wrong with pear and gorgonzola together. It just works.
Give it a try next time you experience ‘no time/I want something fancy’ syndrome. This is the cure.
More Pasta?
Spaghetti alla Chitarra with Lamb & Sweet Pepper Ragu
- 1 pound Penne Pasta, dry
- 2 tablespoons Butter
- 2 firm pears(d'anjou or Bartlett), peeled and cut into a ½" dice
- 2 sprigs Fresh Rosemary, chopped
- 1 teaspoon Coarse Salt
- ½ cup White Wine
- 2 cups Heavy Cream
- ¾ cup Gorgonzola, crumbled
- Ground Black Pepper
- Cook penne pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water.
- While the pasta is cooking, make the sauce.
- Heat the butter on medium/high in a large frying pan. Add the diced pears, rosemary, and salt, and saute for 2-3 minutes, or until pear is soft. Pour in the white wine and cook until most of the liquid is evaporated. Pour in the cream and bring to a simmer. Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 8-10 minutes, or until cream has thickened and reduced by half.. Turn off the heat and gently stir in the gorgonzola crumbles.
- When the pasta is al dente, drain the water and place back in the pot. Pour the cream sauce over the pasta and toss to coat.
- Serve immediately with fresh ground pepper over the top.
I’m simply just gawking at the screen over this pasta! I could probably eat this everyday!
Thank you Tori! =)
This sounds so interesting- trying it soon! Your photos are GORGEOUS! I’m having fun looking at all your posts 🙂
Thanks so much Veronica!
Edited for typos: I was just looking on Pinterest to find any tips to improve my own Gorgonzola pear penne pasta inspired by Le Nonne! It figures that out of everyone in the world I find someone in the same town with the same re-creation! I will try sage as you’ve suggested. Small world!!
What a very small world! How funny that you were looking for this recipe from Le Nonne. I wish we had all of their recipes, don’t you?!
This is perfect! The penne alla pera from Le Nonne was literally what I was looking to recreate, and I found THIS! Thanks for sharing the recipe!