pizzocheri: the coziest mountain food in all of Italy

Decadent Cheesy Garlic Butter Pasta from the Italian Alps

Nov 03, 2024

Ciao friends!

Take a walk with me in Como in autumn… Damp yellow and orange leaves stick to cobblestones. Grey clouds tease dripping pioviggine and heavier pioggia. The wind is blustery, pulling at our jackets and leaving our hair constantly tousled. Lake Como has returned to its dark sapphire blue color and is often white-capped with soft meringue peaks. It’s autumn in the north of Italy and we head for the baita and rifugi that dot the tops of the pre-Alps mountains lining the lake’s edge. It’s perfect weather for mountain food…which means butter, cheese, and garlic! But first a peek into life here lately…look how the colors of Villa Olmo’s flowers echo the colors of the fall market veggies (and the umbrellas)!

From top L: banana slug on forest walk, welcoming coffee bar lit just outside the city walls, my antiqued mirror and me ready for 50th bday party, stunning autumn flowers at Villa Olmo, so many umbrellas at Bar Capriccio, market haul in my kitchen, blue Lake Como after the rains, Osteria Brillo won me over, Canadian ivy's autumn fit check — From top L: banana slug on a forest walk, welcoming lit coffee bar just outside Como's city walls, me ready for Claudio's 50th bday party, stunning autumn flower color mix at Villa Olmo, so many umbrellas on Sat morning at Bar Capriccio, market haul in my kitchen, blue Lake Como after the rains, Osteria Brillo won me over, Canadian ivy's autumn fit check

One of the best things about Italy is hiking with a destination of hot delicious food at a baita or mountain hut. Here in the Lombardy region, there will almost always be pizzocheri (pronounced peetz-zo-ker-ee) pasta on the menu, a drool-worthy, melted buttery, cheesy mountain pasta with vegetables from Valtellina in the Italian Alps but very popular all around Lake Como as well, and for good reason.

In a country of intensely regional cooking, Valtellina is not the land of extra virgin olive oil; it is the land of butter, cheese, wine, and other hearty fare that warm you from the inside out. I can’t think of anything more comforting than a steaming bowl of sage and garlic infused buttery pizzocheri on a chilly mountain night at a high altitude rifugio after a big hike - or mid-day lunch in a baita on the slopes between ski runs. So let’s make it!

Valtellina

We live in Como (on Lake Como) in the southern bit of the Lombardy region, which also contains Milan, the Italian Alps, and the Passo dello Stelvio, the highest pass in Italy, which once connected Milan and Vienna. Valtellina is a long valley in these Italian Alps with jaw dropping hiking, skiing and gastronomy. Here’s a taste of the region below from both of our summer and winter adventures.

Top L: the road down the Stelvio Pass, cows in a summer Alpine snow storm, wildflowers in Valemalenco, bed stones warming on the fire at a rifugio, spying a stambeco (mountain goat) on a high ridge at 3000m+, skiing in Bormio, snow like thick icing in Madesimo, Alpine peaks and piste Madesimo, me with a hot bedstone to warm my feet — Top L: the road down the Stelvio Pass, cows in a summer Alpine snow storm, wildflowers in Valemalenco, bed stones warming on the fire at a rifugio, spying a stambeco (mountain goat) on a high ridge at 3000m+, skiing in Bormio, snow like thick icing in Madesimo, me with a hot bedstone to warm my feet, Alpine peaks and piste Madesimo

Pizzoccheri is specifically from Teglio in the heart of Valtellina. In the summer, the happiest Italian cows graze freely amid the Alpine peaks. Their grass-fed, free-range milk will be used to make the cheeses in this recipe. In winter the happiest skiers traverse the snow-covered piste of Bormio, Livigno, and Madesimo. Living my dream, all of Valtellina is within a few hour drive from Como. Teglio is the red pin on the map below.

Unofficial Episode 2: Cooking with my Italian neighbors

In our unofficial second edition of ‘Cooking with My Italian Neighbors’, (the first was pesto!), Miriam and Fabio invited us to make pizzocheri. Their daughter, Amelie, was so excited for her task of preparing the cheeses that she worked herself into a fever, poor thing! My partner, Giorgio, was also invited as he’d prepared pizzocheri many many times but this was my first and only Miriam and Fabio’s second. Nevermind, because all of us were big eaters and fans of pizzocheri and knew what we were aiming for.

What is pizzocheri?

The shape of the pasta used for pizzocheri is long and flat similar to taglietelle but fatter, shorter, and primarily made of grano saraceno or buckwheat to give it that characteristic earthy hue and hearty texture which combines divinely with Italian mountain cheeses like pungent bitto and young casera. I’m not certain these cheeses can be found outside of Lombardy, but no worries - you can substitute with other more common, bold, melty cheeses like Fontina, Gruyere, or Emmental.

Top L: pasta for pizzocheri, Amelie has prepared the cheeses!, sauteeing the sage and garlic in butter, cin-cin!

Tips from the nonne of Valtellina

The pasta is cooked in the same pot with vegetables including potatoes and thin strips of cabbage which according to the official Academy of Pizzocheri of Teglio website can be substituted with swiss chard or green beans depending on the season or your preference. The sensation of adding so many ingredients to the giant pot right before Halloween was giving me witches brew vibes!

As I mentioned before, there will also be a butter sauce with fresh sage leaves and garlic. While the cheese can be substituted, fresh garlic is a must!

Note: Do not be concerned about the cabbage! It does not have a strong cabbage-y taste in this dish. It will be living its best cabbage life with butter and cheese.

A word about butter

Here we debate how much butter to add with the boys from Lombardy - Giorgio from Como and Fabio from Milano. I’ll translate the beginning for you. I love cooking like this, with everyone involved and opinionated. We had so many laughs!

Giorgio - ma il burro deve proprio fondersi… (But the butter has to really merge…)

Lolly - ma non è troppo…? (It’s not too much?)

Fabio - No. Deve NUOTARE! (no, it needs to SWIM!)

Giorgio - No. Devi nuotare nel burro! (no, you needs to swim in the butter!)

You get the idea! We are going to butter up this pasta. Ready? Let’s transport to the mountains of Valtellina for the coziest Alpine pasta dish.

pst! Scroll to the very bottom to download recipe pdf!

Pizzocheri

Pizzocheri (based on the traditional recipe from Accademia del Pizzochero di Teglio)

FOR 4-5 PEOPLE

The ingredients

200 g potatoes, diced
200 g Savoy green cabbage, sliced into 2cm wide pieces (or substitute with swiss chard or green beans, depending on the season)
250 g Valtellina Casera DOP cheese (or if you can’t find it(!) substitute with Fontina, Gruyere, or Emmental) cut into thin slices
4 cloves of garlic, peeled an cut in half longways
200g butter
4 fresh sage leaves
150 g grated parmiggiano reggiano or grana padano
500g pizzocheri pasta
pepper, to taste

The method

1) Fill a big tall pot with water and salt and set on high heat stove burner. (The big pot is critical as you’ll be cooking both the pasta and the veggies in the wtaer together! ) Taste the water to make sure it’s salty like the sea (and add more salt if needed).

2) Meanwhile, dice the potatoes into cubes, the cheese into thin slices, and the cabbage into 2 cm wide strips. Set aside.

3) Turn on your oven to 180 celcius and place a 9'' x 13'' (23-cm x 33-cm) baking tray in the oven to pre-heat.

4) Add the butter to a sautee pan and gently fry the garlic and sage in it over medium heat until the butter is melted and fragrant and the garlic is golden.

4) As soon as the water boils, add the items in this order:

cabbage (or green beans or swiss chard) - and cook for 6 minutes, then
potatoes - and cook for 6 more minutes, then
pizzocheri pasta - and cook to the package time (usually 10-12 minutes, til al dente)

5) Remove the warm baking dish from the oven using an oven mitt and sprinkle both kinds of cheese in the bottom. Then, using a strainer spoon or spider to remove the hot pasta and vegetables from the water, layer them on top of the cheese, repeating these layers until all are used.

6) Then pour the melted garlic butter on top. Stir.

Bring the baking tray to the table, place on a hot pad or plate, and serve family style at the table. So cozy!