Name: Vincisgrassi (Marche Baked Pasta)
Yield: Serves 6 to 8
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: a pinch of salt; 15 ml/1 tbsp olive oil; 5 eggs; 115 g/4 oz semolina; 200 g/7 oz/1¾ cups plain/all-purpose flour; 600 ml/1 pint/2 ½ cups white sauce; 45 ml/3 tbsp olive oil; 150 g/5 oz/1½ cups freshly grated Parmesan cheese; 1 large onion, finely chopped; 200 ml/7 fl oz/scant 1 cup thick passata/bottled strained tomatoes; 115 g/4 oz chicken livers, trimmed; 65 g/2½ oz unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing; 1 fresh black truffle, brushed clean and thinly sliced; sea salt and ground black pepper; 1.5 ml/¼ tsp freshly grated nutmeg; 250 ml/8 fl oz/1 cup red wine; 15 ml/1 tbsp plain/all-purpose flour; 25 g/1 oz/½ cup dried porcini mushrooms, soaked for about 30 minutes in boiling water until softened, then drained and chopped; 225 g/8 oz stewing veal, coarsely minced/ground or fairly finely chopped; 1 carrot, finely chopped; a pinch of dried marjoram; 1 celery stick, finely chopped; 50 g/2 oz prosciutto crudo or pancetta, chopped

Preparation info

Serves
6 to 8

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

The Italian Regional Cookbook

By Valentina Harris

Published 2017

About

This wonderful dish is related distantly to the lasagna dish of Emilia Romagna, but it was created locally in honour of General Wiensgratz, the ruler of this area during the Austro-Hungarian domination of these northern provinces. The original recipe is more intricate, contains no tomato sauce and uses pigeon breasts, and the pasta dough in the classic recipe uses Marsala mixed into the flour with the eggs, giving it a strange colour and quite a different taste. Here is a more modern - yet