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Pizzoccheri della Valtellina

Lombardy · No.100 / 103

Pizzoccheri della Valtellina

Pizzoccheri della Valtellina

Short buckwheat ribbons boiled with potato and cabbage, layered with Casera and garlic-browned butter.

60 min · Difficulty ●●●●○

Meet the dish

Buckwheat pasta from Valtellina in Lombardy, centred on Teglio

The official ratio is 400 g buckwheat flour to 100 g wheat flour. Knead with water for five minutes, roll 2–3 mm thick and cut 5 mm ribbons. Boil potatoes and cabbage first, add pasta after five minutes, then layer everything with Valtellina Casera and Grana in a hot dish. Pour over garlic-browned butter and serve without stirring.

Pasta shapes to use

  • hand-cut pizzoccheri

Key ingredients

  • buckwheat flour
  • wheat flour
  • Valtellina Casera PDO
  • potatoes
  • Savoy cabbage
  • garlic butter

Follow the cooking scenes

  1. Pizzoccheri della Valtellina: Make the buckwheat pasta.

    Step 1: Make the buckwheat pasta

    Knead four parts buckwheat to one part wheat flour with water, roll 2–3 mm thick and cut 5 mm wide.

  2. Pizzoccheri della Valtellina: Boil vegetables first.

    Step 2: Boil vegetables first

    Add diced potatoes and cabbage to salted water, then add pasta after five minutes.

  3. Pizzoccheri della Valtellina: Layer with cheese.

    Step 3: Layer with cheese

    After about ten minutes, lift into a hot dish in alternating layers with Casera and Grana.

  4. Pizzoccheri della Valtellina: Pour over garlic butter.

    Step 4: Pour over garlic butter

    Brown garlic in butter, pour it over and finish with pepper without stirring.

What to watch for

  • Potatoes are constant; cabbage may give way seasonally to chard or green beans.
  • Do not over-drain; residual heat and moisture melt the layered Casera.

What sets it apart

This is not buckwheat pasta tossed with sauce: pasta and vegetables share a pot, then are layered with two cheeses and hot butter.