Celebrate Sophia Loren's 80th Birthday With Her Gorgonzola Pasta Recipe

Maybe the the secret is in the sauce?

Eternal beauty — and well-known foodie — Sophia Loren celebrates her 80th birthday on Sept. 20th, and let’s face it: She’s still a bombshell.

So, how does she do it?

The answer may just lie in the Italian actress’s homemade recipes. Of her famously voluptuous figure, Loren has notoriously said, “everything you see I owe to spaghetti.”

In honor of the screen siren’s special day — and ample assets — we’re making one of her personal pasta recipes from her Recipes & Memories cookbook, which she released in 1999. (She also released In Cucina Con Amore in 1971.)

Her recipe is so simple and so rustic, there’s virtually no messing it up. However, there’s one Sophia rule that should be followed to the letter: “Spaghetti can be eaten most successfully if you inhale it like a vacuum cleaner.”

Pasta With Gorgonzola Cream
Makes 6 servings

Generous 1/2 pound Gorgonzola cheese
2 tbsp. unsalted butter
1 small stalk celery, roughly chopped
1/2 onion, roughly chopped
Salt
Freshly ground pepper
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 cup milk
1 hard-boiled egg yolk (optional)
Handful of finely minced Italian parsley
2 cloves garlic, peeled
1 1/2 pounds rigatoni or fresh tagliolini

Place Gorgonzola, butter, celery, onion, garlic and a pinch of pepper in a blender or the work bowl of a food processor. (Note: A food processor would work faster.) Process to a smooth paste; when the mixture is well blended, add the cream, milk and egg yolk; add the parsley and salt to taste. Blend until the sauce is very smooth. Meanwhile, cook the pasta until just al dente, then toss it with the sauce.

—Michelle Ward

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