Vincigrassi Maceratesi (Marche Layered Pasta with Offal and Truffle)

La storia di questo piatto

Vincisgrassi is the lasagna of Macerata, in the Marche, born as a humble nineteenth-century dish built on poultry offal. This version crowns that poor, honest tradition with black truffle from Norcia, a richer homage to it.

Ingredienti

• 300 g Chicken offal (heart, liver, gizzard)
• 12 g Black truffle from Norcia
• 150 g Pancetta, diced
• 1 medium Onion
• 1 medium Carrot
• 1 stalk Celery stalk
• 3 tablespoons Extra virgin olive oil
• 150 ml Dry white wine
• 250 ml Chicken stock (store-bought, homemade or from bouillon)
• 200 g Canned crushed tomatoes
• 500 g Fresh egg pasta sheets
• 90 g Butter
• 60 g All-purpose flour
• 500 ml Whole milk
• 150 g Grated Parmigiano Reggiano
• 1 pinch Nutmeg
• q.b. to taste Salt and black pepper

Preparazione

1. Clean the offal carefully, removing membranes, fat pieces, and any bile from the liver that would make it bitter. Blanch the gizzard for 5 minutes in boiling water, then drain. Finely chop the gizzard, heart and pancetta by hand, keeping the liver separate—the knife yields a more even texture than a food processor. Finely dice the onion, carrot and celery: these form the fragrant foundation of the ragù. The chicken stock may be store-bought, homemade, or prepared from bouillon—no need to cook a whole bird separately. The truffle is never cooked: you'll use it raw, sliced thin during assembly (6 g total, roughly 1 g per layer) and the remaining 6 g grated fresh as a garnish.
2. Warm the olive oil in a large saucepan and add the soffritto, letting it soften gently until glistening. Add the chopped pancetta, heart and gizzard, raise the heat and brown for 6–8 minutes, stirring often, until deeply golden. Add the minced liver and sauté another 2–3 minutes so it doesn't toughen.
3. Pour in the white wine and scrape the fond from the pan, allowing the alcohol to evaporate. Add the crushed tomatoes (crumbled by hand) and the ready-made chicken stock, reduce the heat to low and simmer gently for an hour and a half, stirring occasionally and adding a ladleful of warm water if it dries out too much. The ragù is done when it's reduced, dense, glossy and lightly colored by the tomato. Season with salt and pepper.
4. While the ragù simmers, melt 80 g of butter in a saucepan (reserve the remaining 10 g for greasing the baking dish), add the flour all at once and stir vigorously over low heat for two minutes until the mixture is smooth and smells like biscuit without browning. Pour in the warm milk gradually, stirring constantly to prevent lumps, and cook for another 10 minutes until the béchamel coats the back of a spoon. Season with salt, pepper and a grating of nutmeg.
5. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and blanch the pasta sheets in small batches for 30–60 seconds. Transfer immediately to ice water and lay them flat on clean kitchen towels to dry. Grease the baking dish with the remaining 10 g butter. Divide the pasta into 5 equal layers: on each, spread a thin layer of ragù, then béchamel, about 25 g of Parmigiano and a few thin truffle slices, using 6 g of truffle distributed evenly across the 5 layers (roughly 1 g per layer). Press gently on each layer. Top with abundant béchamel and remaining Parmigiano. Reserve the last 6 g of truffle for a fresh garnish at the end.
6. Bake in a preheated 180°C (350°F) oven, covered with foil for the first 20 minutes to prevent drying. Uncover and bake another 15–20 minutes until the surface is golden and crispy in patches, for a total of 35–40 minutes.
7. Let rest for 10 minutes straight from the oven: the layers will settle and each portion will come out cleanly. Serve each piece topped with the remaining 6 g of truffle, freshly grated over the surface.