L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2020 www.italoamericano.org 30 L'Italo-Americano LA BUONA TAVOLA RECIPES COOKING TIPS SEASONAL DISHES FRANCESCA BEZZONE V altellina is a beautiful alpine a r e a i n t h e S o n d r i o p r o - vince of Lom- bardia. You may think not to know it, but you're certainly f a m i l i a r w i t h p l a c e s l i k e Bormio and Livigno, famous for their ski resorts and pic- turesque views; truth is, Val- tellina is all beautiful and rich in traditions, history and, as you'd expect in a val- ley of the Alps, gorgeously rich food. Pizzoccheri are, along w i t h f l a v o r s o m e c o l d c u t bresaola, the most well k n o w n c u l i n a r y p r o d u c t coming from Valtellina, and rightly so: it's a very unique, very traditional pasta, pre- pared with local ingredients and enriched with flavorso- me, seasonal cheese, butter and vegetables like potatoes and savoy cabbage, a per- fect concoction to enjoy with a nice glass of full bodied red, maybe after a day spent on the slopes. In name of their authentic and deeply rooted bond with the valley, p i z z o c c h e r i h a v e a n I G P denomination, which means r e a l p i z z o c c h e r i a r e o n l y made in Valtellina, using specific ingredients and fol- lowing specific rules: they have to be one centimeter wide, 7 centimeters long and 2 or 3 millimeters thick. If different, they are not real pizzoccheri! But what makes this type of pasta so special, you may ask: well, it's what it's made o f , b u c k w h e a t . T h i s ancient cereal, which we call grano saraceno (saracen wheat) in Italian, has been long cultivated in the pro- vince of Sondrio, where it is u s e d i n m a n y t r a d i t i o n a l recipes. The first document attesting the presence and u s e o f b u c k w h e a t i n Valtellina dates back to 1616 a n d w a s p e n n e d b y t h e governor of the Adda Valley. By the 1800s, thanks to its strength and ease of growth on hard terrain, its cultiva- tion was extended to areas once considered unsuitable for agriculture. It was — and still is — called furmentùn or fraina, while its flour, d a r k e r t h a n c o m m o n wheat's, is known as farina negra, or "black flour." B u c k w h e a t u s e d t o b e common in other parts of Italy, too, but in Valtellina it b e c a m e a t r u e s y m b o l o f local tradition and farming culture, in a way unknown in other places. Even if its cultivation is no longer as widespread as it used to be, its flour remains the key ingredient not only in piz- zoccheri but also in other dishes like sciàt, polenta taragna and chisciöi. A bit of history W e d o n ' t r e a l l y k n o w e x a c t l y w h e n p i z z o c c h e r i were first made, but part of their history was recorded b y H . L . L e h m a n n i n h i s work about the Canton of G r i s o n s , D i e R e p u b l i k G r a u b ü n d e n , o f w h i c h Valtellina used to be part of. I n i t , h e m e n t i o n s p e r - zockel, a type of pasta simi- lar to tagliatelle, made with b u c k w h e a t f l o u r a n d t w o eggs, which was cooked in a little water and eaten with butter and grated cheese. F a r m e r s , L e h m a n c o n t i - nued, would usually make g n o c c h i u s i n g t h e s a m e ingredients, because the pre- p a r a t i o n o f t h e " s f o g l i a " required large tables they often did not have in their frugal kitchens. In 1834, piz- zoccheri are mentioned in Giuseppe Filippo Massara's P r o d r o m o d e l l a F l o r a Pizzoccheri are a typical dish of Valtellina (Photo: Al1962/ Dreamstime) Comfort food from Valtellina: pizzoccheri Continued to page 32

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