🍝 Valtellina Pizzoccheri – The traditional recipe of Valtellinese cuisine
The Valtellina Pizzoccheri are one of the most representative dishes of Valtellinese cuisine 🍽️. Made with buckwheat flour, these “bacchettoni” are seasoned with mountain butter, Casera cheese, and potatoes, creating a perfect combination of taste and tradition. Although the ingredients are simple and “poor,” the final result is a rich and enveloping dish, capable of warming hearts during the cold winter days ❄️. The key to a good plate of pizzoccheri? An expert hand and high-quality ingredients!
📝 Ingredients (for 4 people)
- 350 g of buckwheat flour
- 100 g of white flour
- 500 g of curly white cabbage (or summer chard)
- 400 g of mountain butter (or butter from Latteria di Chiuro)
- 400 g of young Casera cheese (Latteria di Chiuro)
- 3 medium potatoes (diced)
- 4 garlic cloves
- 100 g of grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
- Salt to taste
👨🍳 Step-by-step preparation
- Prepare the dough:
- Mix buckwheat flour and white flour in a large bowl.
- Add lukewarm water gradually and knead for about 15 minutes, until you obtain a soft and velvety dough.
- Roll out the dough with a rolling pin to a thickness of about 5 mm and cut it into strips approximately 7 cm long.
- Stack the strips and cut them into half a centimeter pieces to obtain wide tagliatelle.
- Cook the pizzoccheri:
- In a large pot, bring plenty of salted water to a boil.
- Add the chopped cabbage and the diced potatoes.
- After 5 minutes, add the pizzoccheri and cook for 7-10 minutes (taste to check the doneness).
- Drain the pizzoccheri with a slotted spoon, setting aside a bit of cooking water.
- Season the pizzoccheri:
- In a bowl, layer some pizzoccheri and vegetables, then sprinkle with grated grana cheese and thin slices of Casera cheese.
- Continue layering until all ingredients are used up.
- Prepare the garlic butter:
- In a pan, melt the butter with the garlic cloves (whole or crushed).
- Pour the melted butter with garlic over the pizzoccheri, mixing gently.
- Serve:
- Serve the pizzoccheri on very hot plates, accompanied by a nice glass of Valtellina Red wine 🍷.
📸 The image of the dishes is purely indicative and does not necessarily correspond exactly to the recipe
