members recipes

Buckwheat pasta can either be made fresh – which I have done once following this recipe: http://www.culinarycafe.com/Pasta/Fresh_Buckwheat_Pasta.html with great results, or it can be obtained from a producer called Castagno Bruno outside Turin: http://www.castagnobruno.it/

This dish, which is heavily inspired by the traditional Lombardian oven dish Pizzocheri, isn’t (just like the original) exactly diet food, but it is delicious to eat on a cold day. And besides, cabbage and buckwheat are very good for you.

Ingredients
350 g buckwheat pasta

1 onion, sliced

1 small Savoy cabbage (or spring cabbage when in season), or equal amount of kale/cavolo nero

150 g butter

2 cloves garlic, lightly crushed

6 sage leaves, whole

100 g Fontina, grated

100 g Parmesan, grated

Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Method
Boil the pasta, onion and cabbage together in plenty of salted water. (What to add first is impossible to tell, as it depends on the type of pasta (fresh cooks in a couple of minutes, dried in 5-7 minutes) as well on the type of cabbage (spring cabbage has a much shorter cookinig time than Savoy cabbage).

Melt the butter, and add the garlic and sage. Cook gently for a few minutes, until the butter is infused with garlic and sage aromas. Discard garlic and sage.

Drain the pasta, cabbage and onions, reserving some of the cooking liquid. Add the butter and combine well. Gradually stir in the cheese. Add a splash of pasta water if necessary. Season to taste with salt and plenty of freshly ground black pepper.