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Pasta L’uva with Gorgonzola combines pasta, Italian sausage, pan-roasted grapes and pine nuts into one unforgettable dish.
We’re sharing one of our favorite dishes with you today – Pasta L’uva with Gorgonzola. This dish has a wonderful combination of flavors – and it’s a great option for a dinner party, but it’s easy enough for a weeknight meal.
What is Pasta L’uva?
The word l’uva means ‘grape’ in Italian – so Pasta L’uva is pasta with grapes. But there’s more…
In this fanastic dish, spiral pasta is tossed with sweet Italian sausage, caramelized onion, creamy gorgonzola cheese, a sprinkle of toasted pine nuts, and (the best part of this recipe) sweet, pan-roasted grapes.
If you’ve never eaten roasted grapes before, you really must try them! Roasting grapes brings out the natural sweetness of the fruit as it caramelizes from the heat. The skin of the grape softens and the inside – depending on how long you roast or sauté it – becomes soft and almost jam-like in consistency.
One bite of this Pasta L’uva will have your taste buds dancing and singing. The spicy Italian pasta and sweet grapes are a fantastic flavor pairing on their own, and the gorgonzola cheese adds a rich, tanginess that balances and complements the sweetness of the grapes. In each bite of pasta, you’ll also get a crunch of toasted pine nuts. This dish really is a taste sensation?
This recipe for Pasta L’uva with Gorgonzola was inspired by two different dishes we’ve eaten in the past at some area restaurants near Cape Cod, Massachusetts area. (Sadly, both are no longer in business.) One restaurant served a dish with pasta, roasted grapes, walnuts, and a melted gorgonzola cream sauce – and it was heavenly! The second restaurant served a dish that combined pasta with Italian sausage and roasted grapes.
So we made our Pasta L’uva recipe a marriage of both delicious recipes!
Can I swap in other grapes, nuts or cheeses?
You can! While we used red seedless grapes, you could swap in green or purple grapes instead.
Additionally, you could swap in walnuts for the pinenuts – similar to the original recipe we enjoyed. Just be aware that walnuts have a more prominent flavor than pine nuts so it will add some richness to the flavors of the pasta dish.
And, bleu cheese can be swapped in for the gorgonzola.
This recipe was originally posted here on A Family Feast in February 2013. We’ve updated the photos and made minor edits to the recipe.
You may enjoy these other recipes featuring grapes:
- Quick Skillet Chicken with Grapes
- Broccoli Grape Pasta Salad
- Farro Salad with Grapes, Goat Cheese and Tarragon Vinaigrette
We love seeing what you made! Tag us on Instagram at @afamilyfeast or hashtag #afamilyfeast so we can see your creations!
Pasta L’uva with Gorgonzola
Ingredients
1/2 pound of pasta (we recommend a curly, sturdy pasta cavatelli or orecchietti)
1/3 cup pine nuts
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 cup diced onion
1 tablespoon garlic, minced
1 pound bulk sweet Italian sausage, removed from casing
1/2 teaspoon dry thyme
2 cups red seedless grapes
1 cup crumbled gorgonzola cheese
Instructions
Cook pasta according to directions.
While the pasta is cooking, in a small dry sauté pan, over medium heat, toast the pine nuts until very lightly brown. Remove from the heat and let cool.
In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion and garlic and sauté for about 2 minutes, stirring constantly.
Add the sausage to the onion mixture, crumbling the meat into bite-sized pieces. Continue to cook on medium to medium-high heat, stirring frequently and allowing the sausage to completely cook and brown up, and the onions to caramelize.
Add the thyme and the grapes and sauté for 5-7 minutes until the grapes begin to roast in the pan and soften.
When the pasta is just slightly less than al dente, use a spider or strainer to remove the pasta to the skillet with the sausage-grape mixture. Add 1/2 cup of the pasta water.
Add the gorgonzola and pinenuts. Stir until the cheese has completely melted and coated the pasta.
Serve immediately.
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I combined the blue cheese and pasta water of your recipe with another for Pasta L’uva by Chef Chris Covelli. His recipe used fresh rosemary cooked with the sausage and white and red wines, and of course the grapes and orrechette pasta. It was delicious and I think that the melted cheese held it all together!
Thanks for the suggestion Susan – glad you enjoyed the recipe!
Several years ago I ate at a restaurant in Franklin, NC called Frog and Owl Bistro. They had a pasta with gorgonzola and grapes dish that I enjoyed so much. But I live in South Dakota so eating it again is really not an option. I was searching for a recipe similar to it, and I am glad I ran across your recipe. I made it for supper this evening and my husband and I both really enjoyed it! It tasted like we were eating in some fine Italian restaurant. It was completely different than what I had ordered in NC, but was WONDERFUL and so EASY! I plan to make it over and over again. Thank you for posting it!
Hi Sarah – Thank you so much for writing to us! We’re very happy you enjoyed the recipe!
Martha