Pizzoccheri

Pizzoccheri are short flat ribbons of buckwheat flour mixed with some wheat flour, from the Alpine valley of Valtellina in Lombardy. They are a pasta made from another flour, sold both fresh and dry, and owe their grey-brown colour to buckwheat.

According to the recipe of the Pizzocchero Academy of Teglio, the dough is rolled to 2–3 mm, cut into bands 7–8 cm wide, which are stacked and sliced crosswise into ribbons about 5 mm wide. The result is thick, dense noodles 7–8 cm long. The origin of the name is not settled.

Their home is Valtellina in the province of Sondrio, with Teglio regarded as the heart of the tradition. Dry pasta from the valley is protected in the EU as the geographical indication "Pizzoccheri della Valtellina".

The dough is buckwheat flour and white wheat flour, roughly 4 to 1, with water and no eggs, kneaded for a few minutes. Industrial dry pizzoccheri are dried like ordinary pasta.

Classically, pizzoccheri are boiled for about 10 minutes together with pieces of potato and savoy cabbage in winter, or chard or green beans. Dry pizzoccheri need 10–15 minutes.

The drained pasta and vegetables are layered in a hot dish with Valtellina Casera cheese and grated hard cheese, then drizzled with butter fried with garlic and finished with ground pepper. The dish is served piping hot, without stirring.

In the shop, check the ingredient list: buckwheat flour should come first. Wheat flour is part of the dough too, so pizzoccheri contain gluten, even though buckwheat itself has none.