Pizzoccheri Recipe | Buckwheat Pasta with Cabbage and Potatoes

Pizzoccheri recipe is typical of Valtellina (particularly of the city of Teglio), a mountain area in Lombardy.

Pizzoccheri is a type of homemade pasta made with buckwheat flour, “00” flour and water. The shape is similar to that of fettuccine, but shorter, about 6 cm (2 1/3 inch).

Buckwheat gives Pizzoccheri their characteristic grayish/brown color.

According to Valtellina tradition, you have to cook pizzoccheri in the same water with the savoy cabbage and potatoes. Then drain directly into a baking pan and make layers, alternating pizzoccheri pasta-cabbage-potatoes with Casera, a PDO cheese from the province of Sondrio (read below how to substitute Casera cheese).

Pizzoccheri should be kept warm in a bain-marie while you prepare the last key ingredient in this recipe: noisette butter with sautéed garlic. Then pour the melted butter over the hot Pizzoccheri.

This is the moment when all the ingredients come together, resulting in the classic Pizzoccheri alla Valtellinese: creamy, stringy, incredibly flavorful.

Like every traditional Italian recipe there are small variations related to local customs. We are going to show you the Authentic Pizzoccheri recipe, that is the ancient recipe from Valtellina.

Pizzoccheri is a very rich and flavorful dish. You can serve Pizzoccheri either as a first course or as a main dish. It’s perfect to eat with family or share with friends. Especially good for the winter season.

Try making this appetizing recipe! Follow the steps and our tips to make the best Pizzoccheri recipe you have ever eaten!

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Directions

How to Make Homemade Pizzoccheri (Buckwheat Pasta)

How to Store Pizzoccheri

You can store pizzoccheri pasta (while uncooked) in a tray covered with a clean dish towel in the refrigerator for 1 day.

If you like, you can freeze them and then cook while still frozen.

Pizzoccheri alla Valtellinese should be eaten immediately, as soon as they are ready.

If they should be left over, they can be stored up to 1 day in the refrigerator covered with plastic wrap. Then they can be reheated in the oven or in a bain-marie.

We do not recommend freezing.

What is Buckwheat (Grano Saraceno)

Despite its name, buckwheat is not a grain, so it is not a member of the grass family. Buckwheat is an herbaceous plant belonging to the Polygonaceae branch.

In terms of classification, fagopyrum esculentum (this is its scientific name) can only be called a grain in a generic sense. In fact, they often use the term “cereal” for any species whose seeds or fruits can be ground.

Compared to wheat, the most important difference is that buckwheat is completely GLUTEN-FREE.

Buckwheat has its roots in Eastern culture, known as Heidenkorn, literally “grain of the pagans”.

In China, buckwheat consumption has been attested since the early 10th century, while in Europe it did not spread until after the Middle Ages, in the 15th century.

Some speculate that it was the Turks who brought buckwheat to the Balkans.

The name of buckwheat – in Italian “grano saraceno” – refers to the fact that Arab merchants (Saracens) introduced these types of wheat.

Moreover, because this plant has dark grains, it’s also known as “black wheat” or even “wheat of the blacks,” the Saracens precisely.

Buckwheat has spread successfully throughout Russia and Europe, where they grow it mainly in parts of Germany and France.

In northern Italy they use buckwheat a lot. It’s very common in the culinary tradition of mountain areas.

They cultivate it mainly in the provinces of Sondrio and Bolzano. It’s the protagonist of many typical mountain recipes, such as Polenta Taragna or the Pizzoccheri of Valtellina precisely.

What Cheese is Best for Authentic Pizzoccheri Recipe

What we have shown you is the authentic Italian recipe for Pizzoccheri della Valtellina from the Pizzoccheri Academy of Teglio.

This recipe strictly calls for the use of Valtellina Casera DOP cheese.

Casera is a typical cheese from the valley that gives it its name. They make this cheese from semi-skimmed cow’s milk. The cheesemaking technique is typical of mountain pasture cheeses. It’s aged for at least 70 days, after which they brand it. It’s a semi-fat cheese.

Casera is a cheese linked to the territory and you can often find it difficult to find it elsewhere.

Of course you can substitute it with other cheeses. We recommend a cheese with the same characteristics.

It must be a “malga” cheese, that is, a typical mountain cheese made from cow’s milk and semi-fat.

Fontina, Piave or Montasio (not too aged), Branzi, Asiago and Bitto (also not too aged) are good.

All these types of cheeses, if too aged, are no longer suitable for the Pizzoccheri recipe because they take on too strong a flavor and lose the creaminess needed in this recipe.

Pizzoccheri Recipe: Some Variants

Typical variants of the Sondrio area

As with all traditional recipes, there are some variations on the pizzoccheri recipe.

In the Sondrio area they often use sage instead of garlic to flavor the butter.

In the Alta Valle area they often add a sauté of onion to the recipe.

Pizzoccheri with Chard or Green Beans

This recipe for pizzoccheri is a rich and hearty dish that is particularly suitable for cold winter evenings. In fact, cabbage, which is one of the main ingredients, is a winter vegetable.

But in mountain areas, pizzoccheri are cooked all year round and can certainly be enjoyed even in summer, after a long and tiring walk in the mountains!

During the hot season, you can substitute cabbage with chard or ribs or green beans, again using the steps we have shown you.

Pizzoccheri with Pesteda

If you want to give an extra flavor to your pizzoccheri, then you must try them with a pinch of “pesteda” to sprinkle on top.

Pesteda, which means “pounded,” is a typical seasoning from Grosio, a village in Valtellina.

It’s a beaten, mortar-made mixture of garlic, salt, pepper, dwarf yarrow leaves and thyme. Each family then uses a different recipe for making Pestèda, some adding a dash of wine or grappa, or juniper berries to the basic ingredients.

Pestèda is a flavor enhancer with a strong and decisive taste that they use on many typical Valtellina dishes but especially on Pizzoccheri.

In this way you will combine two recipes from the same land, Valtellina, to have a truly unique flavor that you will not be able to forget!

Vegan Pizzoccheri

There are many variations of pizzoccheri in a vegan version. For example, you can  replace cheese with a cashew-based cream or with rice or 100% soy cooking cream.

Very interesting is the vegan version with a bechamel made with coconut milk and coconut flour. This béchamel sauce will replace cheese and butter.

Coconut Milk Béchamel:

• 200 ml (3/4 cup) of coconut milk
• 2 tablespoons of coconut flour
• oil
• salt
• nutmeg

In a saucepan, heat the oil, slowly add the flour and coconut milk, mix with a whisk. Then add the nutmeg, season with salt and stir.

Gluten-free Pizzoccheri

The traditional pizzoccheri recipe calls for both buckwheat flour and “00” flour, in a ratio of 4:1, therefore they are not completely gluten-free.

But you can prepare gluten-free pizzoccheri at home using only buckwheat flour. In this case you will have to work the dough longer and more vigorously. We also recommend to use very hot water to be able to work the dough better.

Or you can replace the “00” flour with rice flour in the same amount.

History of Pizzoccheri Pasta

Pizzoccheri pasta, whose main ingredient is buckwheat, has very ancient origins.

As we have seen, the people of Valtellina most likely cultivated buckwheat as early as 1616. It’s therefore thought that the custom of making Pizzoccheri pasta dates back to the introduction of buckwheat in Valtellina.

In the late 1700s, H.L. Lehmann, in his work Die Republik Graubündeni, mentions “Perzockel” as buckwheat and egg noodles.

Moreover, Giuseppe Filippo Massara catalogs among the various plants found during excursions in the province of Sondrio precisely buckwheat, stating that buckwheat was used in those areas to make pizzoccheri.

On the other hand, the etymology of the name “Pizzoccheri” is not very clear, probably from the root “pit” or “piz” meaning small piece, or from the word “pinzare” (to crush), as a reference to the flattened shape of the dough.

Others, however, argue that the word “pinzochera,” used as early as 1300 by both Dante Alighieri and Giovanni Boccaccio, indicates poverty and simplicity, thus referring to a simple dish.

In any case, the most recent sources on pizzoccheri date back to the late 19th century.

The physician Bartolomeo Besta speaks of pasta made with buckwheat. He calls them “tagliatelli bolliti e poi conditi con cacio e burro” (noodles boiled and then seasoned with cheese and butter). Definitely the ancestors of today’s Pizzoccheri.