Tag: Valtellina

The most gluttonous sciatt of Valtellina – Italian Cuisine

The crispy pancakes from Valtellina made from buckwheat, gluten-free. Usually salty, they can also be declined in the sweet version, with chocolate

Teglio, in the province of Sondrio, boasts the practice of growing buckwheat (fagopyrum esculentum, Monch) for more than four centuries and is universally recognized as a place of origin for Valtellina pizzoccheri.

Over time, the cultivation of buckwheat has assumed the identity and identification role of a heritage of cultural knowledge of the territory: the land around the town is colored by the soft flowers of the plant all year round.

Buckwheat is naturally gluten-free since it does not belong to grasses, but is a species of flowering plant in the Polygonaceae family. If in the rest of Italy the cultivation of this plant has almost disappeared, in Valtellina, despite the drastic reduction in local production, it is the basic ingredient of many typical dishes, now famous even outside the Valtellina borders: pizzoccheri, sciàt, polenta taragna and chisciöi.

Among the many local recipes, we asked the super local Mrs. Nadia to prepare us the sciatt (literally sciatt in Valtellinese dialect means toad) that is, crispy pancakes of round shape with melted cheese heart, usually served on a bed of chicory.

The most gluttonous sciatt of Valtellina

Recipe

Ingredients for 4 people

500 g of Molino Tudori buckwheat flour
half a teaspoon of salt
sparkling mineral water
a spoonful of grappa
300 g soft casera cheese or 200 g chopped dark chocolate (for the sweet version)
sunflower oil for frying

Method

Mix the flour, salt and grappa very well with a whisk, adding the water to obtain a soft, but not too much dough: the consistency of the pasta must be stringy. Leave the pasta to rest for about an hour at room temperature and then add the casera cheese cut into cubes of about 2 cm.
When the oil in the pan is boiling, collect a cube of cheese with a spoon, taking care to cover it with the pasta and let it fall into the pan.
Leave the sciatt to brown until afloat and serve hot on a bed of raw chopped chicory.

For the chocolate variant, the recipe is identical to that of traditional sciatt by dipping pieces of dark chocolate in the batter and frying as in the traditional recipe. If desired, they can be sprinkled with a little icing sugar.
They are like cherries … one pulls the other!

Picture of Antonella Catalano.

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Pizzoccheri recipe, the original recipe from Valtellina – Italian Cuisine

Fresh pasta, potatoes, cheese and cabbage: here's how to prepare traditional pizzoccheri, the heart of Valtellina

Ingredients

300 g potatoes
400 g cabbage
400 g buckwheat flour
300 g butter
200 g casera cheese
100 g 00 flour plus a little
6 cloves of garlic
grated Parmesan
salt

Duration: 1 h

Level: Middle

Dose: 4 people

Fresh pasta, potatoes, cheese and cabbage: here's how to prepare traditional pizzoccheri, the heart of Valtellina For the classic pizzocheri recipe, prepare the vegetables: peel the potatoes and cut them in half slices; peel the cabbage, remove the core and divide the leaves in half, removing the rib, then reduce them to 2 cm wide strips.

Sift the 00 flour and the buckwheat flour in a bowl; pour 270 g of water, add a pinch of salt and begin to knead. Transfer the dough to the floured surface and work it briefly with your hands to make it homogeneous and compact.

Put a large pot with 6 liters of water on the fire, salt it and, when it is boiling, pour the cabbage leaves; cook them for 8 ', add the potatoes and cook again for 8' from the resumption of the boil. Roll out the dough with a rolling pin until you get a sheet of 2 mm thick; cut it first into strips 10 cm wide, then reduce each strip by cutting it diagonally into strips 1 cm wide.

Peel the garlic cloves, cut them in half and cook them in the butter without letting it color too much. Cut the casera cheese into cubes. Put the pizzoccheri into the water where they cook cabbage and potatoes and cook them for 10 minutes. Drain pizzoccheri, potatoes and savoy cabbage with the skimmer, arrange them on the plate and season them in layers with the cheese cubes, the butter without garlic and plenty of grated parmesan. Stir and serve immediately.

In the gallery above, our best pizzoccheri recipes.

The wine of the week: Valtellina Superiore Vigneto Fracia 2015 Nino Negri – Italian Cuisine

From a cru from the sub-area of Valgella, a great red that tells the territory, focusing on elegance and the ability to challenge time

Going along the SS38, which leads from Switzerland to Lake Como, one cannot help but be enchanted by the spectacle of the Valtellina vineyards. Thousands of kilometers of dry stone walls welcome and contain the Nebbiolo grape plants, here called chiavennasca, clinging to the sides of the mountains and exposed in full South: this work by peasant engineering, developed in Roman times, has characterized the valley for over two thousand years. Walking through the vineyards is the easiest way to understand what the expression “heroic viticulture": The slopes are extreme, the works must be carried out almost always without the help of the machines, the heat in summer is hellish (not for nothing one of the sub-regions of Valtellina is called Inferno).

The most important and representative cellar of the denomination is undoubtedly the Nino Negri, inaugurated in 1897, enlarged in the sixties by Nino's son, Carlo Negri, and today owned by the Italian Wine Group. Guided for 40 years by the Trentino oenologist Casimiro Maule, "inventor" of the iconic 5-star Sfrusat wine, it is today run by the Piedmontese Danilo Drocco and produces about 800,000 bottles a year. To the 31 hectares of property there are added 120 worked by historical contributors, who go on to compose a truly impressive heritage of vineyards for the territory. But if you had to choose just one place to represent the company, you would have to reach the sub-area of Valgella, in the easternmost sector of the denomination, where the Fracia vineyard, the first purchased by the Negri family. It is a real one 10 hectare cru (of which 7 are from Nino Negri), facing south, at an altitude ranging from 350 to 500 meters. As in the rest of the Valtellina, the strong temperature changes between day and night and between winter and summer and the constant action of the Foehn alpine wind ensure the optimal environment for the maturation of the chiavennasca grape, which is harvested here in October, when it reaches a slight over-ripeness. With these grapes the Valtellina Superiore Vigneto Fracia is produced, one of the most elegant and territorial reds of Nino Negri: drunk in youth, it is able to seduce with its aromas ranging from violet to rose, to plum, enlivened by spicy notes that recall the clove, but if you have time to let it mature in the cellar for a few years, you will find yourself uncorking a magnificent wine with grace and complexity.

Why now: it is the best time to walk in the mountains and then take a break in a trattoria, sipping a local red, with robust alpine dishes.

As did: after the vinification, lasting 8 days, the wine made a passage in steel, then it was aged in second passage barriques for about 20 months. He rested another 6 months in bottle before being put on the market.

To combine with: pizzoccheri, pork loin with prunes, seasoned cheeses, grilled meats, game.

Serve it at: 16 ° C.

Price: 28 euros.

ninonegri.it

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