P
Italian · Marche
Vincisgrassi — Marche's Festive Baked Pasta
Vincisgrassi is the great baked pasta of the Marche: a lasagne-like preparation of thin egg pasta sheets layered with a rich ragù of chicken giblets and offal (the traditional version), or mixed pork and beef in the modern interpretation, bound with a besciamella made with cream and enriched with Marsala or aged wine vinegar. It is baked until browned and set, then rested before serving. Unlike Bolognese lasagne, the vincisgrassi sauce leans toward the savoury-mineral from the giblets, and the pasta sheets are thinner — the dish has a delicacy that the heavier Emilian version lacks. The name possibly derives from an 18th-century Austrian general, Windischgrätz, stationed in the Marche.
I
The Market List
The benchmark for each ingredient, and who stocks it near you. Tap a stockist to go straight to the product.
For the egg pasta
400 g
tipo 00 flour
Your own market
4
eggs
whole
Your own market
For the giblet ragù
200 g
chicken livers
trimmed, finely chopped
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
150 g
veal sweetbreads
blanched, membrane removed, finely chopped
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
100 g
bone marrow
extracted, finely chopped
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
150 g
chicken giblets
finely chopped
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
60 g
unsalted butter
Your own market
1
small onion
finely chopped
Your own market
1
celery stalk
finely chopped
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
1
small carrot
finely chopped
Your own market
120 ml
dry Marsala
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
200 g
For the cream besciamella
50 g
unsalted butter
Your own market
50 g
tipo 00 flour
Your own market
350 ml
whole milk
warm
Your own market
350 ml
double cream
warm
Your own market
1 tsp
fine salt
Your own market
1 pinch
freshly grated nutmeg
Your own market
To assemble
120 g
Parmigiano Reggiano
finely grated
Your own market
60 g
unsalted butter
cut into small pieces, plus extra for the dish
Your own market
Each tap is counted, so the stockist sees the demand Provenance sends them.
II
The Method
1
Make the pasta dough. Mound the flour on a clean surface, make a well, and break in the eggs. Work the dough firmly and steadily — the gluten needs sustained pressure to develop, so the sheet will roll thin without tearing later. Wrap and rest at room temperature for 30 minutes; the dough is ready when it is smooth, elastic, and no longer sticky.
2
Make the giblet ragù. Melt 60 g butter in a wide pan over medium heat, add the onion, celery, and carrot, and cook until softened and lightly golden, so the vegetables build a sweet base that tempers the iron edge of the offal. Add the bone marrow and giblets and sauté for 3–4 minutes, then add the sweetbreads and chicken livers, and cook, stirring, until the offal has lost its raw colour throughout.
3
Deglaze with the Marsala. Raise the heat and pour in all the Marsala at once — it should rise in steam immediately, lifting every caramelised deposit from the pan floor into the sauce. Allow it to reduce until the sharp alcohol smell has gone and only the sweet, oxidised fragrance of the wine remains.
From the canon — Marsala is Sicily's great fortified wine—a complex, amber-to-mahogany wine produced in the province of Trapani, around the city of Marsala, using a solera-st… Marsala →
4
Add the tomato, season, and simmer the ragù over low heat for 30–40 minutes, stirring occasionally, so the tomato loses its raw brightness and folds into the offal to form a single, cohesive mass. The ragù is ready when it is dense, the fat has separated slightly at the edges, and the sauce holds its shape on a spoon without running. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.
5
Make the cream besciamella. Melt 50 g butter in a heavy saucepan, add the flour, and stir constantly over medium heat for 2 minutes so the flour cooks out completely and no raw, chalky taste will carry into the finished dish. Remove from the heat briefly, then whisk in the warm milk and cream in a steady stream, return to medium heat, and stir continuously until the sauce thickens and coats the back of a spoon; season with salt and nutmeg, and press a sheet of film directly onto the surface so a skin does not form and make lumps when you spread it.
From the canon — Besciamella is the Italian béchamel—a smooth, velvety white sauce of butter, flour, and milk that serves as the essential binding and enriching layer in lasa… Besciamella →
6
Roll the pasta. Divide the dough into manageable portions and pass each through a pasta machine, reducing the setting progressively until the sheet is 1 mm or less — nearly translucent when held to the light — so that the many layers bake into something light and yielding rather than solid and leaden. Cut into sheets sized to fit your baking dish. Blanch briefly in well-salted boiling water for 30 seconds, refresh in cold water, and lay flat on clean cloths so the sheets do not stick together before assembly.
7
Assemble the vincisgrassi. Butter a deep baking dish generously, lay down a thin layer of besciamella first so the bottom sheet of pasta does not catch and dry against the dish, then lay a layer of pasta sheets. Spread ragù, then besciamella, then a scattering of grated Parmigiano, and repeat, building a minimum of five layers. Finish with pasta, besciamella, a generous covering of Parmigiano, and the 60 g of butter distributed in small pieces across the surface so it bastes the top as it melts and the crust colours evenly.
8
Bake at 180 °C for 35–40 minutes. The vincisgrassi is ready when the top is uniformly golden-brown and the sauce is visibly bubbling at the edges of the dish.
9
Rest for a minimum of 20 minutes before cutting, so the layers firm up and each portion holds its shape cleanly on the plate rather than sliding apart. The surface should feel firm, not liquid, when pressed lightly at the centre.
III
Quality Hierarchy
01
Reserve — Pasta from stone-milled tipo 00; sweetbreads and livers sourced from a named small-farm bird; bone marrow from grass-fed veal; aged Marsala (Superiore Riserva); Parmigiano Reggiano aged 30 months or more; black truffle shavings pressed between the top pasta sheet and the besciamella, in the aristocratic Marche interior tradition.
02
Estate — Good-quality tipo 00 and free-range eggs; butcher-sourced chicken livers and sweetbreads; a reliable dry Marsala; Parmigiano Reggiano aged 24 months. No truffle, but generous with butter.
03
Market — Supermarket tipo 00; standard chicken livers (giblets optional); sweetbreads if available, otherwise all livers; a recognised Marsala; Parmigiano from a vacuum pack. The cream-to-milk ratio in the besciamella is the remaining quality lever — do not reduce the cream.
04
House — Modern interpretations substitute mixed pork and beef for the giblet ragù — this is acceptable as a house version, though it produces a different dish in character. Dry Marsala is non-negotiable: do not substitute white wine.
IV
Sensory Tests
◇Sight. The rolled pasta sheet is nearly translucent when held to the light — the benchmark is 1 mm or less.
◇Smell. After deglazing, the sharp alcohol note of the Marsala has entirely dissipated, leaving only its sweet, oxidised character.
◇Sight. The ragù holds its shape on a spoon without running; fat has separated slightly at the sauce's edges after 30–40 minutes of simmering.
◇Sight. The baked top layer is uniformly golden-brown and the besciamella is bubbling visibly at the dish's edges.
◇Touch. After 20 minutes of resting, the centre of the vincisgrassi feels set and firm, not yielding or liquid, under light finger pressure.
◇Where it lives or dies. The pasta must be rolled to 1 mm or less — nearly translucent — because thick sheets make the dish stodgy and erase the delicacy that distinguishes vincisgrassi from every other baked pasta.
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VI
What to Pour
The pairing
Fortified wine
From British Columbia
2023 seven stars VEGA
Township 7 Vineyards & Winery · Naramata Bench
Township 7 Vineyards & Winery · Penticton →Sparkling wine
Without alcohol
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