Penne alla Rosa

Published 14 June 2026

Penne alla Rosa (The Pasta from My Dreams, Literally)

This penne alla rosa is a dream made real, and I mean that quite literally. A simple, beautiful Italian pasta of penne, passata, mascarpone, garlic, onion, olive oil, and fresh spinach. Pink, creamy, deeply comforting, and the kind of dish that makes you wonder why you haven’t been making it your whole life.

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Yield: 4

Penne alla Rosa

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This penne alla rosa is the pasta recipe that earns its place on permanent rotation in my kitchen. A beautiful blush pink sauce that sits somewhere between a rich tomato and a creamy rosé, coating every tube of penne in something completely silky and deeply satisfying. It looks stunning, tastes incredible and comes together in under 30 minutes with just a handful of simple ingredients. Save this recipe for date night, a casual dinner party, or honestly any night when you want pasta that feels special!

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Total Time 25 minutes

Ingredients

• 400g penne pasta
• 1/2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 small onion, finely sliced
• 1/4 cup dry white wine
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 400g passata (citric acid free)
• 100g mascarpone
• 25g Parmigiano Reggiano, grated
• 25g baby spinach
• Salt & pepper, to taste

Instructions

1. Cook the pasta according to the packet instructions. Reserve about 1/4 cup of pasta water before draining and set aside.
2. While the pasta cooks, heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add the onion and cook for about 5 minutes, or until just starting to soften.
3. Add the white wine and simmer for 5 minutes, or until the wine has completely reduced.
4. Add the garlic and stir through for 1 minute, or until fragrant.
5. Add the passata and simmer for 5 minutes, or until the sauce has thickened slightly.
6. Reduce the heat to low. Stir through the mascarpone, Parmigiano Reggiano, and baby spinach. Stir until the spinach has wilted and the cheese is completely incorporated, about 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
7. If the sauce is too thick, add a little pasta water to loosen it up.
8. Toss the cooked pasta through the sauce and serve immediately.

Notes

• Pasta alla Rosa is a beautiful pink pasta sauce that sits somewhere between a tomato sauce and a cream sauce. It's elegant, simple, and incredibly satisfying.
• I use this large frying pan for pasta sauces. It's wide enough to toss the pasta through the sauce without everything spilling over the sides.
• Citric acid free passata gives you a sweeter, less sharp sauce. Mutti is a great brand to look for.
• Reducing the wine completely before adding the passata is important. You want the alcohol to cook off fully so you're left with just the flavour, not the sharpness.
• Mascarpone gives this sauce its gorgeous creamy, velvety texture. Don't substitute with cream cheese as the flavour and texture are quite different.
• Stir the mascarpone and Parmigiano Reggiano through on a low heat. Too much heat can cause the mascarpone to split and become oily.
• Baby spinach wilts down to almost nothing, so don't worry if it looks like a lot at first. It adds colour, nutrition, and a subtle earthiness to the sauce.
• Reserve the pasta water before draining. The starch in the water helps loosen the sauce and helps it cling to the pasta.
• This pasta is best eaten fresh. Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 days. Reheat gently in a pan over low heat with a splash of water or extra passata to loosen the sauce.
• Not suitable for freezing as the mascarpone sauce can split when defrosted.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

4

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 334Total Fat: 16gSaturated Fat: 8gUnsaturated Fat: 8gCholesterol: 39mgSodium: 229mgCarbohydrates: 36gFiber: 2gSugar: 2gProtein: 9g

Please note, this nutrition information is to be used as a guide only. Nutrition information isn’t always accurate.

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The Dream That Started It All

A few weeks ago I had a dream. I was out to dinner at an Italian restaurant on Albert Street, and I absolutely don’t know if such a restaurant actually exists because I haven’t been to that part of the city in more than a decade, but in the dream it was beautiful and warm and exactly the kind of place you’d want to be. Across the room was a tall, handsome Italian man who ran the kitchens. We got talking about a pasta dish I’d had there before, one I loved but couldn’t find on the menu. He leaned over, pointed to the specials section, and we giggled and we flirted and somewhere in that moment I understood he was my person.

Of course, he was not real. He was a dream, and dreams are cruel in exactly that way. But penne alla rosa has been stuck in my mind ever since, this dish I’d apparently fallen in love with in a restaurant that doesn’t exist, made by a man who isn’t real, in a version of Brisbane I haven’t visited in years. I’d never actually had penne alla rosa. Never even seen it on a menu. And when I looked up the American-Italian recipes for it, every single one contained mushrooms, to which I am quite allergic, so those were out immediately.

The simpler Italian version though? The one that’s just tomato, cream, garlic, and spinach? One hundred percent something I want in my life. So I made it my mission this weekend to bring this dream pasta into reality. The man may only exist while I’m asleep, but this pasta can be in my life whenever I choose, and that feels like a reasonable consolation.

A Little Romance Would Be Nice

That dream has had me thinking, genuinely, about romance. I think I could do with a little of it. Someone to share my kitchen with, to cook for properly, to sit across the table from on a Sunday afternoon with a glass of wine and nowhere to be. I’m not in a rush, and I’m not swiping desperately through apps, but the dream did remind me that I am, at my core, someone who loves to cook for people and who would like very much to have a person to cook for on a regular basis.

Maybe I do need to find a handsome Italian man. I’m putting it out there. I can’t promise Albert Street has what I’m looking for, but I’m open to being surprised. In the meantime, at least I have the pasta, and the pasta is genuinely excellent, which is more than can be said for most things I’ve been waiting on.

Life otherwise continues quietly and well. Lulu is being his usual chaotic self, the blog is getting less attention than it deserves but cooking is still happening constantly, and this weekend was one of those genuinely good ones where the kitchen produced something new and immediately beloved. Penne alla rosa is going straight into the regular rotation, dream man or no dream man.

Why This Pasta is So Good

Penne alla rosa is essentially the lovechild of a tomato sauce and a cream sauce, and the mascarpone is what makes it extraordinary. Mascarpone is richer and less tangy than regular cream, and it melts into the passata in a way that creates a sauce that is velvety and pink and deeply satisfying without being heavy. It doesn’t split, it doesn’t curdle, it just becomes part of the sauce in the most seamless and beautiful way.

The garlic and onion build the aromatic base, and they need to be properly softened before the passata goes in, translucent and sweet rather than raw and sharp. This is not a step to rush. The passata then needs a few minutes to reduce and concentrate slightly before the mascarpone is stirred through off the heat, or on very low heat, so it melts gently rather than seizing up.

The Parmesan adds depth and savouriness, while the handful of spinach brings a little freshness and colour without taking over the dish. It’s one of those rare pasta recipes that feels both comforting and surprisingly light at the same time. Rich enough to feel indulgent, simple enough for a weeknight, and exactly the sort of pasta you find yourself craving again a few days later.

Ingredient breakdown

Penne

Penne is the classic shape for a rosa sauce because the hollow tubes trap the creamy, blush-coloured sauce inside as well as coating the outside, giving you sauce in every single bite. Cook it in well-salted boiling water until just al dente because it will continue to cook slightly when tossed through the hot sauce. Reserve a small amount of the pasta water before draining because the starch in it helps loosen the sauce and helps it cling to the pasta properly.

Olive oil

Just enough to soften the onion and start building the base of the sauce. Nothing fancy required here, save the good stuff for finishing other dishes.

Onion

Finely sliced rather than diced, which gives the finished sauce a slightly different texture and means it cooks down quickly into the base without needing a long, slow soffritto. Just a minute or two until it starts to soften before the wine goes in.

Dry white wine

Added after the onion and simmered until it has completely reduced before the garlic goes in. This is an important step because you want the alcohol to cook off fully so you’re left with the flavour of the wine rather than its sharpness. Use something you’d actually drink because the flavour concentrates as it reduces and a harsh wine will make the sauce taste sharp rather than rounded.

Garlic

Two cloves of minced garlic added after the wine has reduced, cooked for just a minute until fragrant. Adding it at this stage rather than at the start means it doesn’t have to sit through the wine reduction and risk getting bitter or overcooked.

Passata

Citric acid free, which matters here because you want a sweet, clean tomato flavour as the base of the rosa sauce rather than something sharp and slightly chemical. Mutti is a reliable brand. The passata simmers for five minutes until it thickens slightly before the mascarpone goes in, which gives the sauce body and stops it from being too loose when the cream element is added.

Mascarpone

The ingredient that transforms this from a simple tomato sauce into a pasta alla rosa. Mascarpone is a rich, thick Italian cream cheese that stirs into the hot passata and creates that characteristic blush pink, velvety sauce. It goes in over low heat rather than medium because too much heat will cause it to split and turn oily rather than melting in smoothly. Don’t substitute with cream cheese, which has a tangier flavour and a different texture that won’t give you the same silky result.

Parmigiano Reggiano

Stirred through with the mascarpone over low heat, adding a sharp, salty, nutty depth that the mascarpone alone doesn’t have. It also helps thicken the sauce slightly and gives it a more complex, layered flavour than a straight cream and tomato combination would produce. Freshly grated rather than pre-grated, which melts more smoothly and tastes noticeably better.

Baby spinach

A small handful that wilts down to almost nothing in the heat of the sauce. It adds a subtle earthiness, a pop of green colour, and a lightness that stops the sauce from feeling too rich and heavy. Don’t worry about the volume when it goes in because spinach collapses dramatically the moment it hits heat.

Salt and pepper

Season at the end after the mascarpone and Parmigiano Reggiano are incorporated, because both cheeses bring their own saltiness and you may need less than you’d expect. Taste carefully and adjust from there.

Serve this with

• A simple rocket and Parmesan salad with a sharp lemon dressing to cut through the richness of the mascarpone sauce.
• Garlic bread or crusty sourdough on the side for mopping up any sauce left in the bowl.
• A glass of the same dry white wine you used in the sauce, because that’s just the right call.