When you say Italian recipe, you automatically think of pasta. There’s hundreds of different types of the most precious ingredient of Italian cuisine, as well as thousands of ways to prepare it: the long and difficult daily choice of pasta marks the mornings of millions of Italians around the world.

Such a crucial cultural element deserves its own celebration day: since 1998, we have had a day entirely dedicated to promoting and spreading awareness of its extraordinary characteristics as a healthy and tasty product. Every year on October 25th, World Pasta Day takes place, and this year marks the 27th anniversary since the first festival which took place in Naples.

As everybody knows, pasta and wine are two protagonists of the vast majority of Italian meals: let us suggest a perfect combination of 4 traditional recipes and Carpineto products! 

Lasagna with porcini mushrooms and creamy béchamel sauce

Start by cleaning and washing the porcini mushrooms, then slice and brown them in a pan with chopped onion, oil, salt and pepper, allowing them to flavor well. Meanwhile, prepare the béchamel sauce with butter, flour, milk, and nutmeg until you obtain a smooth and velvety cream. Spread a thin layer of béchamel sauce in a baking dish, cover with a layer of lasagna and a layer of mushrooms, then continue alternating lasagna, béchamel sauce, and mushrooms until all the ingredients are used up. 

The last layer should be lasagna sheets covered with plenty of béchamel sauce and sprinkled with grated Parmesan cheese. Bake at 350°F for about 30 minutes, until the surface is golden brown and crispy and the layers inside are well bound. Once out of the oven, let the lasagna rest for a few minutes before serving hot.

Tagliatelle with wild boar ragù

To marinate the meat properly, the wild boar is supposed to be hacked into pieces and kept in the wine in which chopped onion, celery, carrot, and some aromatic plants like bay leaves and juniper berries have been placed for a few hours or overnight. 

After this, when it is time to cook, drain off all the liquid from the meat and dry and chop it up if need be with a knife. In a pan, fry the onion, carrot, celery, and garlic, then add the marinated chopped meat, fry well; add half a glass of wine to deglaze. 

Add the tomato (pureed or peeled), salt, freshly ground black pepper, and other spices then leave tightly covered on a slow flame for at least a couple of hours or until it gets thick and tastes good. At the same time, boil tagliatelle in plenty of salted water until just tender. 

Drain well, then mix with ragù so that it coats evenly. Serve hot with grated Parmesan cheese on top if you like. 

Pumpkin tortelli with butter and sage

Such cleaning of the pumpkin is definitely a thankless job, but then, somebody has to do it! Proof to be: take a pumpkin cut in pieces and bake (in the oven until soft), then mash or puree the pulp. Mix with crumbled amaretti biscuits, grated cheese, salt, nutmeg for the filling; mix well and leave to rest (even overnight) so that the flavors mix. If the filling is ready, knead flour and eggs into a smooth dough.

Let this rest for 30 min. Roll out very thinly and cut into strips. Place little mounds of filling on one strip, cover with a second strip, press edge and cut out tortelli with a toothed wheel. Allow resting for some time on a floured surface. Boil in salted water for 3-5 minutes, then drain and pour over melted butter flavored with sage. Add freshly grated cheese and serve piping hot.

Carbonara with crispy guanciale and truffle aroma

To prepare carbonara with crispy guanciale and truffle aroma, cook 400 g of spaghetti in boiling salted water. Meanwhile, cut 200 g of guanciale into strips and melt it in a small saucepan without adding oil, as the guanciale will release its own fat. When the guanciale is nice and crispy, drain it with a spoon and place it on paper towels, saving the fat for later. Beat 3 eggs with 50 g of grated pecorino cheese, a pinch of pepper, and a spoonful of the guanciale fat. 

Drain the pasta and return it to the pot, adding the beaten egg and crispy guanciale. Stir well until the egg has set. Serve with a sprinkling of truffle to further enhance the flavor of the dish. Yummy!

Today’s choice of wine to enhance these traditional pasta dishes can’t be other than our wonderful Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020: nothing but an elegant, structured red wine made from 100% Sangiovese Grosso grapes grown in vineyards located at an altitude of over 500 meters, characterized by galestro and clay soils. 

The vinification process involves temperature-controlled maceration, followed by three years of aging in Slavonian oak barrels and at least six months of bottle aging. The result is a wine with an intense ruby red color and garnet reflections. The nose opens with hints of vanilla, cherry, raspberry, and licorice. 

The palate is dry, warm, smooth, and well-structured, with remarkable persistence. It is best served at a temperature of 18- 20° C (64-68°F), preferably after an hour in a decanter, to enhance its organoleptic characteristics.