Pasta lovers, there's a new cookbook you will need to add to your shelves. Phaidon has just released The Silver Spoon Pasta, a collection of over 300 recipes for 48 different types of pasta, including this Valtellina Pizzoccheri, a classic Alpine dish. The Silver Spoon collection started with an Italian cookbook in 1950, Il Cucchiaio d'Argento, leading to many offshoots throughout the years. Now, Phaidon has focused the latest book in its long-running series on pasta, from short to long, fresh to dry, cut to stuffed. Note: The Silver Spoon Pasta does not include a headnote for this recipe, so Appetito has added one to explain the dish's origins.
Valtellina Pizzoccheri refers first to the dish's origin, a long and winding valley in northern Lombardy that borders Switzerland, and then to the noodle, flat like tagliatelle and made with a buckwheat-based mix of flour. The Alpine setting befits this hearty dish, which also calls for cabbage, potatoes, and melty cheese, and while it's a great winter pasta, the preparation is served year-round. Serve it with a Nebbiolo, perhaps even from Valtellina DOC or Valtellina DOCG (see our guide to Nebbiolo wines for more information and producer recommendations).
Excerpted from The Silver Spoon Pasta © 2024 by The Silver Spoon Kitchen. Photography © 2024 by Edward Park. Reproduced by permission of Phaidon. All rights reserved.
Valtellina Pizzoccheri
4
servings1
hour20
minutes45
minutesIngredients
1 1 1⁄4 cups (150 g) buckwheat flour
3 3 ⁄4 cup (80 g) all-purpose (plain) flour, preferably Italian type 00, plus extra for dusting
1 1 egg, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons 2 milk
salt
- FOR THE SAUCE
4 1/3 cups 4 1/3 (400 g) shredded savoy cabbage
1 1 potato, chopped
scant 1⁄2 cup (100 g) butter
1 1 onion, thinly sliced
1 1 garlic clove, thinly sliced
4 4 fresh sage leaves, shredded
5 ounces 5 (150 g) sliced lowfat cheese
1 cup 1 (80 g) grated Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper
Directions
- Sift together both flours and a pinch of salt into a mound on the counter and make a well in the middle.
- Add the egg, 1 tablespoon warm water, and the milk and gradually incorporate the flour with your fingers, adding more warm water if necessary.
- Knead until smooth. Roll in a damp dish towel and let rest for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, put the cabbage and potato into a pan, add water to cover, and season with salt and pepper.
- Bring to a boil, then lower the heat, and simmer for 20 minutes until the cabbage is tender and the potato is almost disintegrating.
- Divide the butter between three small pans and cook the onion, garlic, and sage in the separate pans until soft and golden brown.
- Roll out the pasta dough into a fairly thick sheet on a lightly floured counter and cut into 1⁄2-inch (1-cm) wide ribbons about 8 inches (20 cm) long.
- Add the pizzoccheri to the pan of vegetables, cook for 5 minutes, then drain, and transfer to a large dish.
- Pour the hot butters over the mixture and toss lightly.
- Arrange a layer of vegetables and pizzoccheri on the base of a soup tureen, place a layer of cheese slices on top, and sprinkle with the Parmesan.
- Continue making alternating layers until all the ingredients are used.
- Serve hot.
Notes
- Buckwheat flour, originally from Asia, is often replaced by cornstarch (cornflour) in Italian cooking. However, buckwheat is still produced near Carnia in Friuli-Venezia Giulia, northeast Italy, and in Valtellina in Lombardy, in the north, where Pizzoccheri is a traditional dish.
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