Buckwheat Pasta with Cabbage and Cheese

Ingredients

• 400 g Buckwheat pizzoccheri pasta
• 250 g Potatoes
• 300 g Savoy cabbage
• 250 g Valtellina casera cheese
• 80 g Grana padano
• 120 g Butter
• 2 cloves Garlic
• 8 leaves Sage
• 1 to taste Salt
• 1 to taste Black pepper

Steps

1. Peel the potatoes and cut them into roughly 2 cm cubes.
2. Remove the tough core from the Savoy cabbage and cut the leaves into wide strips.
3. Set both aside.
4. Bring a large pot of salted water to a rolling boil.
5. Add the potato cubes and cook for 5 minutes.
6. Add the cabbage strips to the pot with the potatoes and cook for a further 5 minutes.
7. Add the pizzoccheri to the same pot and boil everything together until the pasta is tender, about 10 to 12 minutes for dried pizzoccheri.
8. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a small pan over low heat with the peeled garlic cloves and the sage leaves, letting it gently sizzle until golden and fragrant; do not let it burn.
9. Drain the pizzoccheri, potatoes, and cabbage together, reserving a little cooking water.
10. Discard the garlic from the butter.
11. In a warmed serving dish, make a first layer of the drained pizzoccheri mixture, scatter over diced Casera cheese and a generous handful of grated grana, then drizzle with some of the sage butter.
12. Repeat the layers until everything is used.
13. Pour the remaining hot butter over the top.
14. Cover for a minute to let the cheese melt.
15. Serve immediately with extra black pepper.

Tips

• Authentic pizzoccheri use Valtellina Casera DOP cheese; if unavailable, a young Fontina or mild Bitto melts similarly.
• Do not skip the garlic-and-sage butter and don't let it burn — it is the soul of the dish, so keep the heat low.
• Serve the dish piping hot straight from the layering; pizzoccheri firm up quickly once they cool.