Pizzoccheri

Pizzoccheri is pasta made from a 50 / 50 mixture of buckwheat and either durum wheat flour or regular wheat flour. The flours are mixed with salt and water to form a dough, which is then rolled out and cut to be about the same width as fettucine, but thicker.

It can be bought fresh or dried.

It helps form some popular winter dishes made in Lombardy, Italy.
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Teglio, Lombardy is thought by some to be the home of this pasta. They hold two festivals to celebrate it: “La Sagra dei Pizzoccheri” in July, and “The Golden Pizzocchero”, in September.

Cooking Tips

It can be just tossed with garlic sautéed in lots of butter, and / or cheese such as bitto, fontina or casera.

Or you cook Swiss chard (or kale) plus potatoes cut up in boiling water, and 10 minutes before they’re done, add the Pizzoccheri pasta, then cook for 10 minutes. Then drain. Then make layers of this pasta and vegetable mixture in an oven-proof dish, with pieces of butter, bitto cheese and grated Grana Padano, then bake in a moderate oven (about 350 F / 180 C) until the surface is browned, and the cheese is melted, and everything is piping hot all the way through. A few minutes before you remove it from the oven, make a sauce by melting 3 tablespoons of butter, and sautéing it in a clove or 2 of garlic (peeled and chopped) and 4 or 5 sage leaves. Remove the pasta dish from oven, and drizzle over it the sauce. Serve.

Substitutes

A whole wheat ribbon-shaped (aka linguine, fettucine, etc) pasta

Language Notes

Pronounced “pee TZO keh ree.”