ITALIAN BUCKWHEAT PASTA (I PIZZOCCHERI)
Marcella Hazan's books are well-loved at our house. Her authoritative approach to Italian cooking has helped curb our enthusiasm for recipe shortcuts and has actually taught us a few things. As a result her recipes have consistently yielded delicious results, prompting us to return to them again and again.
Inspired by the winter season and the Breakneck Acres buckwheat in last week's FarmShare delivery, I looked up the recipe for I Pizzocheri in Hazan's More Classic Italian Cooking (Knopf, 1979).
This dish hails from Valtellina, Italy which Hazan describes as "a sunny garden of a valley, backed up against and sheltered by the Alpine masses that stand between it and Switzerland". It's a gooey, lasagna-like combination of homemade buckwheat noodles, potatoes, Swiss chard and fontina that I like to make at least once each winter when the temperatures are frigid and we're in need of cozy, mountain-style food. Yes, it does involve potatoes and pasta, together in the same dish -- sorry, paleo people, it's a carb-fest.
Here's my adaptation which I think you'll find as delicious and decadent as it sounds. My suggestion is to enjoy it on a snowy, winter night after an exhilarating ski or a walk or jog in the snow. Open a bottle of big, red wine and dream of faraway, snowcapped mountains.
I Pizzocherie (Buckwheat Pasta with Swiss Chard)
For the pasta:
1 1/4 cups buckwheat flour
1/2 cup plus 1 tbsp unbleached flour
2 large eggs
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp milk
1 tbsp water
In a mixing bowl, blend both flours together using a wire whisk and pour into a mound on your work surface, shaping a deep hollow in the center. Put eggs, salt, milk, and water into the hollow. Using your fingers, gradually draw the flour into the egg mixture, mixing them together. Knead the dough for about ten minutes until smooth. If dough is too sticky, add a large pinch or two of regular flour. Cover dough with a dish towel and allow to rest for 15-20 minutes.
Roll out dough as you would for other pasta, using either a rolling pin or a pasta machine. Roll to about 1/16-inch thick. We actually prefer to hand-roll this pasta using a rolling pin.
Allow sheet of dough to dry on your work surface for 2-3 minutes. The dough should be dry enough not to stick to itself when folded and cut, but not so brittle that it will crack.
Loosely fold the dough into a flat roll, as you would for cutting noodles. Cut the rolled dough into 1" wide strips, and cut each strip diagonally in the middle, giving you diamond shaped noodles, 1" wide and about 3-4 inches long. Unfold noodles and spread out on a towel.
3-4 cups Swiss chard stalks (greens removed), cut into 2-3" pieces
2 tbsp salt
1 cup potatoes, cut into 1/4"-thick slices
7 tbsp butter
4 large garlic cloves, peeled and lightly crushed
12-14" baking dish
Buckwheat noodles (above)
1/4 lb fontina cheese, cut into thin slivers, about 1 cup
2/3 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
Preheat oven to 400F.
Wash the Swiss chard thoroughly in cold water.
Bring about 4 quarts of water to a boil, add 2 tbsp salt. When water returns to a boil, add Swiss chard.
After chard has cooked for about 10 minutes, add the sliced potatoes.
While potatoes are cooking, heat 6 tbsp butter and the garlic in a small pan over medium. When garlic becomes colored a light nut brown, remove it and discard and turn off the heat.
Lightly smear the baking dish with the remaining tablespoon of butter.
Test potatoes and chard with a fork and when tender, drop pasta into the same pot. Cook pasta until al dente. This will take just a few seconds. Drain immediately and transfer the pasta, chard and potatoes to the prepared baking dish.
Add the garlic-flavored butter and toss.
Add the fontina and Parmesan, mixing them into the pasta and vegetables.
Bake in uppermost rack of the pre-heated oven for 10 minutes until heated through. Allow to settle 2-3 minutes before serving.