HOME MADE PIZZOCCHERI RECIPE

Before posting any more pictures about my holiday, here is a simple way to make Pizzoccheri from scratch. You will need:

• 400g Buckwheat Flour
• 100g White All Purposes Flour
• 200g Butter
• 250g Casera Cheese or Medium Cheddar
• 150g grated Grana Padano Cheese or Parmesan Cheese
• 200g Cabbage or Swiss Chard in Summer
• 250g Potatoes
• 1 Clove of Garlic
• 5/6 Sage Leaves
• Salt and Pepper

Mix the two flours with water and kneed for about 5 minutes. Roll out the dough to about 3mm thickness.

Cut length-wise, like tagliatelle, 7/8mm wide. Then cut them again side-wise, to achieve pasta strips about 10/12cm long.

Let the pizzocheri rest under a clean linen cloth.
In the meantime wash the vegetables, drain them and chop them coarsly. The potatoes should be peeled and cut into bite-sized cubes.
Bring a big pot of salted water to the boil. Add the greens and the potatoes. After 5min add the pizzoccheri. Cook for another 10 minutes and start draining them with a sieve. Put them in a hot oven dish. Cover this first layer with slices of cheese and dust with parmesan cheese. Continue alternating pizzoccheri and cheese until you have drained all of them.

Fry the butter with the clove of garlic and the sage leaves. When the garlic is golden, pour the hot butter on top of the pizzoccheri. Add some pepper.

Serve immediately. Add salt to taste. Buon Appetito!

HOLIDAY IN THE ALPS - PART 1 - Food

I have been back from holidays for 2 weeks now (sigh!) and still I haven't found the time to download and fix all the pictures I have taken.
I have decided to divide the holiday-post in a few parts. The easiest and possibly the most popular category would be the one dedicated to the food I had.

Let's start with a classic Italian "aperitivo", which is something you have before going home for dinner. When I'm on holiday I like going for an aperitivo even before lunch!
My favourite bar for aperitivo in Chiesa Valmalenco is the "Caprice". The orange drink is a Crodino analcolico (no alcohol). Meanwhile the red coloured one is a classic Negroni (1 part gin, 1 part sweet vermouth and 1 part Campari)
Usually the aperitivo includes some nibbles, such as: crisps, olives, focaccia, salame etc.

There are a few ice-cream parlours in the town, but I only buy mine at Gelateria La Rosa. I remembered the year it opened, I must have been already in my teens. I always wanted to go there after the swimming pool. Lately my favourite is the Affogato all' Amarena (above). Literally ice-cream "drowned" in amarena cherries, topped with fresh whipped cream... to die for!

One of the best things about mountain hiking is the satisfaction of reaching a mountain refuge. Most of the times I bring my own lunch in my back-pack, especially if I go for a day-long hike. Some other times, it is nice to actually eat at the refuge, especially if the hike is short and you are with friends.
This is the lovely meal I had at Rifugio Ventina (1975 mt). This refuge is approx. an hour hike from the village of Chiareggio. Very easy, ideal for families or lazy people like me. You can eat on the outside veranda with a view of the Ventina glacier.

Polenta with spezzatino (beef stew). There are different types of polenta. The one you eat in the Alps is made with a mixture of corn and buckwheat flour. I really like it. How much polenta can I eat? LOADS!

Another good refuge where to eat is Rifugio Carate Brianza (2636 mt), which belongs to the Alpine Club of my town of origin. This is a rather long hike, about 3 hours from the lower damm in Campo Moro. It used to be run by an old guy with a German sheperd. I remember that once he offered us a potent "digestivo" (after dinner drink), which he kept hidden under the bar! Strong, hand-made stuff that could make you digest even stones!

For a couple of years now the refuge has had a new manager, Angelo, a multi-talented and very friendly young man. He runs the refuge during the summer and in winter he is a skiing instructor. I think he runs the local snow-boarding school.

He is also a pretty mean chef. Above you can see a plate of Pizzoccheri cooked by him. Pizzoccheri is a traditional dish from Valtellina. They are strips of buckwheat pasta cooked with potatoes, cabbage and local cheese. You can buy pizzoccheri in most supermarkets. Dried, in boxes like tagliatelle. These ones were hand-made the very same day I ate them! I was very impressed by a young guy cooking so well and making his own pasta, in the middle of nowhere, at nearly 3000 mt. He was also so kind to let us put our socks and boots to dry on the aga. I didn't go prepared for so much snow and got wet... we had a chat and he even offered us a nice cappuccino :)

One of the reasons of my past as a chubby child, besides Nutella, is to be found in a restaurant called Il Vassallo.
It used to be called Taverna Valtellinese and it was my absolute favourite restaurant when I was a child. I used to order always the same things: Assetto Valtellinese, Gnocchetti dello Chef, Portafoglio Valtellinese with fries and dessert. Now, I don't know how on earth I could down all that food in one meal. I was something like 10/11... I went back, but couldn't equal my past heroic deeds. I skipped the starter, ordered the gnocchi, the veal and no dessert. I nearly exploded! The Gnocchetti dello Chef (above) are delicious tiny spinach gnocchi in a creamy tomato, mince and mushrooms sauce. As you can see the portions are huge.

This is the Portafoglio Valtellinese, literally "wallet". It is a slice of veal, folded and filled with ham and fontina cheese. I am not too sure about the sauce... cream for sure, some sort of liqueur? Who knows. Whatever it is, it is surely delicious.

Melting cheese! So nice...

I don't usually eat much fruit in London. I think only apples and strawberries are good here. When I go back home, in summer especially, I eat a lot of fruit. Melon, peaches and wild blueberries are amongst my favourites. I like wild blueberries because altough they are smaller than the ones you buy in supermarkets, they are much tastier. I usually eat them with lemon juice and a sprinkle of sugar.

On rainy days, when you cannot go hiking, you can go for a drive to the "duty free" town of Livigno. It is a couple of hours away from Chiesa Valmalenco, passed Bormio, through the Foscagno Pass.

There are many shops selling cigarettes, chocolate, perfumes and alcohol. There are also many nice restaurants and bars. I stopped at the tea room of the Compagnoni Hotel, in the centre of town. I had another ice-cream "affogato", in hot chocolate this time. The cream tasted so milky, the hot chocolate was so thick!

I bought chocolate for friends and my mum. There were so many different flavours. I felt intimidated and bought only the more traditional flavours... silly me!

Nothing like an iced chinotto. I love the stuff, I could drink litres of it. Thank goodness I can't find it so easily in London. This year my sisters have even bought chinotto ice-lollies for me!

I like cooking in my "alpine" kitchen. I have a big table and a beautiful view. My landlord owns a small food store right above my flat, where I can buy good quality ingredients. Such as bresaola di cavallo (cured horse meat) and fresh rye bread.

I cooked polenta and salsiccia (sausage). I used a real copper paiolo, which is the pot traditionally used to cook polenta. It really made a difference. The polenta was amazing.

More pizzoccheri. This time from my favourite restaurant as an adult: Ristorante da Toto`. Here you can order half portions, so you can try different things without overeating.

New management at Albergo-Ristorante Fior di Roccia in Campo Franscia. They are a nice family from the Bergamo province. I had some cured meats as starter.

Fresh goat cheese and home-made pickles.

I tried some venison...

... and mountain goat stew. They were both very tasty, but the plate was crying for some polenta!

The father of the family offered us a special home-made liquorice liqueur. Ice-cold from the freezer. So nice and smooth. I didn't realise how strong it was until I was outside in the parking lot and couldn't walk very straight ;)

For my last holiday dinner I had something special recommended by Roberto, the owner of Toto`. Capra in umido. Umido is another kind of stew. The meat was so tender that was falling off the bones. I had never had goat cooked like this.

The story of this goat is a bit strange. I actually saw it and its herd by coincidence a few days earlier... but I will tell you about this later!