Valtellina Pizzoccheri

CHEF MATTEO GIUDICI 

Ingredients for 4 people: 

For the pizzoccheri:  400g of buckwheat flour, 100g white flour, 250g water and salt as needed.
For the sauce:  120g butter, 1 sage stick, 1 garlic clove, 400g Casera della Valtellina DOP semi-aged cheese*, 1 small savoy cabbage, 400g chard, 4 medium-sized potatoes and salt as needed.

Directions:  
Mix the two flours into a mound, add some salt and mix in the water to obtain a smooth and homogenous dough. Let to dough sit under a soup bowl for half an hour. Flatten the dough into a 2-3mm-thick strip using a rolling pin or a pasta machine. Cut the dough into strips that are 7-8cm wide and the cut lengthwise to obtain noodles that are some 5mm wide.
Melt the butter in a pan with the peeled garlic and sage and sautée.
Peel and cut the potatoes into pieces, clean and slice the cabbage and chard into strips. Boil the vegetables in salted water and, just before they are cooked, add in the pizzoccheri and cook them until done (around 10 minutes).
Drain and place in a hot bowl with the Casera cheese that has been grated roughly and the butter from which the garlic and sage have been removed. Serve hot.
* a cheese produced in the winter using the same cow milk used in the summer to make Bitto cheese in the mountains.

Wine to pair

Ca’ Brione 2012 Terrazze Retiche di Spondrio IGT Nino Negri 

An unusual and yet territorial pairing with a white Valtellina wine that also has some Nebbiolo (Chiavennasca) in the blend that was fermented off the skins. The result is a wine with a yellow color and green reflections, a broad, assorted aroma with smoky scents that dissolve into those of exotic fruit and candied citrus. The mouthfeel is harmonious and elegant, very saline, with a pleasing fruity background. The wine holds up well and improves with age.

Area of production: Valtellina, in the province of Sondrio. Ca’ Brione is a vineyard in the town of Teglio, more precisely the district of Fracia, were the grapes for this bold wine were harvested for the first time in 1986. At present the Nebbiolo and Incrocio Manzoni grapes for the blend are from the municipality of Treviso, while the Sauvignon and Chardonnay are from Teglio, where the vineyards sit at an average altitude of 400-500m above sea level, have a southern exposure and grow in a sandy soil that is not too deep.

Grape varieties: Sauvignon, Chardonnay and Incrocio Manzoni with an addition of Nebbiolo. The latter is from Guyot-trained vines modified into arches, while those for the Chardonnay, Sauvignon and Incrocio Manzoni are spurred cordon trained.

Wine making method: The Sauvignon, Chardonnay and Incrocio Manzoni grapes are picked by the hand and the bunches are left to raisinate in wood crates for around 20 days. The wine from these grapes is later blended with the Nebbiolo that has been squeezed off the skins. The wine ferments in French oak barriques, half of which are new and half used, for some eight months with weekly batonnage or paddling.

Alcoholic content: 13%

Serving temperature: 12-14°C

THIS RECIPE WAS OFFERED BY NINO NEGRI