Pizzoccheri
Valtellina buckwheat pasta with cabbage, potato and melted cheese
Pizzoccheri begin as pasta but arrive at the table as a complete mountain meal: dark, short buckwheat ribbons tangled with soft cabbage and potato, then buried under melted cheese and butter. The warmth matters as much as the ingredients. A cool bowl leaves the Casera in stubborn pieces; a properly heated dish lets it relax into the pasta without turning the whole thing into a sauce.
Teglio, in the middle Valtellina, is the dish's culinary center. The dough combines four parts buckwheat to one part white flour, hand-cut thick enough to keep a little grainy resistance after boiling. It cooks in the same water as the vegetables, letting their flavors mingle.
The essential cheese here is young Valtellina Casera: mild, supple, and made to meet buckwheat. It is layered with grated grana, then flooded with butter browned around a clove of garlic. Leave the layers alone until they reach the plate. The reward is an unapologetically rich dish whose nutty, faintly earthy pasta still comes through the dairy.
Ingredients
For the fresh pizzoccheri
- 400 g, plus a little for dustingbuckwheat flour (see note)
- 100 gall-purpose flour
- 270 ml(1⅛ cups)hot water
For the vegetables and finish
- 6 L(6⅓ qt)water
- 60 gfine sea salt
- 250 gyellow-fleshed potatoes, peeled and cut into 3 cm (1¼ in) irregular chunks
- 200 gsavoy cabbage, cored and cut into rough 3 cm (1¼ in) pieces
- 250 gyoung Valtellina Casera DOP, cut into very thin shavings (see note)
- 150 gGrana Padano DOP, finely grated
- 200 g(14 tbsp)unsalted butter
- 1large garlic clove, unpeeled and halved
- freshly ground black pepper
Kitchen notes
- Buckwheat flour
- Despite its English name, buckwheat is not wheat and has no gluten. The white flour is what gives this very buckwheat-heavy Teglio dough enough cohesion to roll and cut. Do not replace it with a packaged gluten-free blend, which changes both the dough and the finished pasta.
- Valtellina Casera DOP
- Use young Valtellina Casera DOP, the supple, semicooked cow’s-milk cheese, sliced thin enough to melt from the heat of the pasta. It is distinct from Bitto, another local Valtellina cheese, and from generic Swiss-style melting cheeses.
- Grana Padano DOP
- Grate Grana Padano finely from a wedge. Its aged flavor seasons the pasta alongside the softer Casera; the two cheeses have different roles.
Method
Make and cut the dough
- Mix the buckwheat and all-purpose flours in a wide bowl. Pour in about 240 ml of the hot water and work the mixture together, adding the remaining water only as needed to make a firm, compact dough. Knead on an unfloured surface for about 5 minutes, until it feels smooth rather than crumbly. Roll it with a pin to a 2–3 mm (about ⅛ in) sheet. Cut the sheet into 7–8 cm (about 3 in) bands, stack the bands, and cut across them into ribbons about 5 mm (¼ in) wide. Keep the ribbons lightly separated with buckwheat flour.
Cook the vegetables and pasta together
- Bring the 6 L water to a boil in a large pot and add the salt. Add the potatoes; after 2 minutes, add the cabbage. Five minutes after the cabbage went in, lower the pizzoccheri into the same pot a few at a time. Stir gently with a wooden spoon handle as they enter so they separate. Cook for about 10 minutes from the return to a boil. The potatoes should yield easily to a knife, the cabbage should be tender rather than crisp, and the pasta should be cooked through but still pleasantly substantial.
Brown the garlic butter
- While the pasta cooks, warm a large, deep serving dish or low baking dish until it is hot. Melt the butter in a small saucepan with the halved, unpeeled garlic. Let it cook until the garlic is golden and the butter smells nutty and turns hazelnut-brown; do not let the milk solids blacken. Remove the garlic and keep the butter hot.
Layer and serve
- Lift the pizzoccheri, cabbage, and potatoes from the water with a slotted spoon, draining them well. Put one third in the hot dish, scatter over one third of the Casera and Grana Padano, then repeat twice, finishing with a generous veil of grated grana. Pour the hot browned butter evenly over the top. Do not stir. Grind black pepper over the dish and bring it to the table at once, while the cheese is melting between the layers.