Which wine to serve with baked pasta

Baked pasta is the ideal dish par excellence to serve and enjoy together with a nice table of friends or relatives. A convivial dish, which mothers and grandmothers cook with love, and which they usually prepare for Sunday lunch; this is because it is a "convenient" recipe, easy to keep warm and steaming ready to serve when guests arrive. There are many baked pasta recipes, and we want to help you choose the right wine to pair with some of them, to make your recipe even richer and more delicious.

Let's start with the traditional Bolognese lasagna, the best known and appreciated by young and old; a preparation that includes layers of thin egg puff pastry, alternating with fragrant meat sauce, with the addition of bechamel and a generous dose of Parmesan. For this dish a soft and fruity red wine is indicated, we advise you to choose between the Lambrusco, the Gutturnio, the Barber of Asti or a young person Valpolicella.

Let's move on to the white variant, lasagna whose recipe does not include the use of meat sauce, but no less delicious. In fact, the recipe can be enriched by adding pesto to the béchamel, for a fresher and more summery version; or make a nice diced mixed vegetables sautéed in a pan to incorporate to each layer. Another very popular version includes the addition of sautéed fresh mushrooms or alternatively sautéed peas with diced cooked ham. For this latter combination, we recommend a good fruity white wine such as Vermentino. For the variant with mushrooms, the ideal is a red that recalls the aromas of the undergrowth, therefore wines obtained from Cabernet Sauvignon with grapes in full maturity, or aged wines drawn from Cabernet Franc.

Another very tasty but typical winter recipe is lasagna with sausage and broccoli, which are prepared by steaming the broccoli and then sautéing them in a pan with oil, garlic and sausage. They are then combined with the béchamel, and proceed with the drafting of the usual layers of puff pastry, and then finish with a generous grating of Parmesan cheese. An excellent recipe to accompany with red wines such asAglianico and the Primitive.

For lasagna marinara version, therefore seasoned with fish, being a dish certainly lighter than the classic version of meat, the same goes for vegetables, but in general a white wine with good acidity is preferred and therefore they will be ideal a Greco di Tufo or one Falanghina. For the salmon variant we opt instead for bubbles; the choice of a Franciacorta Brut Satin it will certainly be spot on.

Speaking of baked pasta, we certainly cannot fail to mention cannelloni; also in this case the versions of this dish are many. Let's start with those stuffed with meat, tasty rolls of thin egg pastry filled with minced meat, ricotta, eggs, parmesan and nutmeg. Arranged in a row in the pan and covered with meat sauce, bechamel and a generous sprinkling of Parmesan cheese for the crust, they are ready to be baked. In combination with this first course we have chosen sparkling reds such as Bonarda Oltrepo 'Pavese or the Sparkling Lambrusco.

If you prefer cannelloni stuffed with ricotta and spinach, opt for the choice of a Pinot Nero sparkling or the harmonious aroma of Sangiovese DOC.

Pairing a wine with pasta is not such a simple choice; this is because every chef "has his hand", this is understood as the greasiness of the cooked dish. Having said that, for dishes with greater oiliness and fatness, our choice can range from red wines of a certain size and with a fruity bouquet such as Dolcetto D’Alba. While, for the lighter and more delicate first courses, we can focus our attention on dry fruity white wines with a floral and herbaceous hint, such as Passerina.

With the aim and the hope of having been of help in choosing the right wine to match your baked pasta preparations, we can only wish you a good appetite and a good toast!

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