TABELIAAUTHENTIC RECIPE
Pizzoccheri della ValtellinaValtellina Buckwheat Pasta
Wide, flat buckwheat pasta with butter, cheese, cabbage and potatoes: a nourishing winter specialty from Lombardy's mountains, passed down through Alpine farmhouse cooking.
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Ingredients (4 servings)
- Buckwheat flourFor the pasta dough.200 g
- Cake flour (type 00)Combine with buckwheat flour in a 2:1 buckwheat-to-wheat ratio.100 g
- Savoy cabbageRoughly chopped200 g
- PotatoesCut into 2 cm cubes.2 pieces
- Casera cheeseThinly slice or break into small pieces.200 g
- Butter80 g
- GarlicPeel and lightly crush.2 cloves
- Fresh sage5 leaves
- Grana Padano (for finishing)40 g
Method
Prepare the ingredients
- 1 Thinly slice or break 200 g Casera into small pieces.
- 2 Peel 2 potatoes and cut into 2 cm cubes.
- 3 Roughly chop 200 g Savoy cabbage.
Ready when
The cheese, potatoes and cabbage are prepared.
Make the pasta dough
- 1 MeanwhileStart bringing a large pot of water to a boil, with 10 g salt per 1 L.
- 2 Knead 200 g buckwheat flour, 100 g plain flour, 1 tsp salt and about 120 ml water into a pasta dough.
- 3 Cut into flat noodles about 7 × 1 cm.
Ready when
The pasta has been cut into 7 × 1 cm flat noodles.
Caution
Buckwheat has little gluten: bring the dough together evenly without overkneading.
Boil the potatoes
- 1 Add the 2 cm potato cubes to the prepared boiling salted water and cook for 5 minutes.
Ready when
After 5 minutes, the potatoes are partly cooked.
Boil cabbage and pasta
- 1 Add 200 g cabbage and boil for another 5 minutes.
- 2 Add the pizzoccheri and boil for another 10 minutes.
Ready when
The pizzoccheri are cooked.
Layer in an ovenproof dish
- 1 Drain the pasta and vegetables in a colander.
- 2 Layer pasta, vegetables and Casera in an ovenproof dish.
Ready when
The pasta, vegetables and cheese are arranged in layers.
Make and pour over brown butter
- 1 Melt 80 g butter in a frying pan over medium-low heat.
- 2 Add 2 crushed garlic cloves and 5 sage leaves.
- 3 Heat until the butter turns brown, or beurre noisette, and pour over everything.
Ready when
The butter is brown and smells nutty.
Caution
Overbrowning makes it bitter. Turn off the heat promptly once it turns brown.
Add cheese and serve
- 1 Grate 40 g Grana Padano over the dish.
- 2 Serve immediately.
Ready when
The cheese has been grated over and is served while stringy.
Caution
Serve quickly before the cheese sets.
About this dish
Valtellina, in Lombardy's Alps, is a mountainous valley rising above 1000 meters. Wheat is difficult to grow here, so buckwheat became a staple instead. Pizzoccheri are thick, dark pasta made from this flour, prepared for centuries to sustain people through harsh Alpine winters.
Savoy cabbage, potatoes and Valtellina Casera, the local cheese, are boiled together, then tossed in a frying pan with heated butter and sage. The dish is complete at the moment the cheese melts and brings pasta and vegetables together.
Casera is not available in supermarkets. Yet making pizzoccheri without it is like making an Alpine dish in a land without the Alps. Cooking is a product of terrain and climate.
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