Pizzoccheri della Valtellina al Forno — Cook

Ingredients

For the pizzoccheri dough
400 g buckwheat flour
100 g plain white flour
250 ml water, warm
For the dish
300 g Savoy cabbage, leaves separated, roughly torn
300 g waxy potatoes, peeled, cut into 2 cm cubes
200 g Valtellina Casera DOP, rind removed, thinly sliced
100 g Bitto cheese, rind removed, thinly sliced
150 g unsalted butter
3 garlic cloves, peeled, left whole
6 fresh sage leaves
1 salt, for the cooking water

Method

1
Combine the buckwheat flour and plain flour. Work in the warm water gradually to form a firm, cohesive dough. Rest for 20 minutes under a cloth. Roll to roughly 3 mm thickness and cut into strips approximately 5 mm wide and 7 cm long. The dough is ready when it holds its cut edge cleanly without crumbling.
2
Bring a large pot of well-salted water to a vigorous boil. Add the potato cubes first; after 5 minutes add the cabbage; after a further 3 minutes add the pizzoccheri. Cook all three together until the pasta is 2 minutes short of al dente — it will yield slightly at the centre but resist a clean bite. Drain, reserving a ladleful of the starchy cooking water.
3
Place the garlic cloves and sage leaves into the cold butter in a small pan. Bring over a medium flame. This is where the dish lives or dies: continue cooking, swirling, until the butter turns a deep hazelnut brown — the foam will subside and the milk solids at the base of the pan will colour to amber. The aroma shifts from sweet cream to toasted nut. Remove the garlic before the butter darkens further; discard the garlic. The sage leaves may remain.
4
Heat the oven to 220 °C. Butter the base of a terracotta baking dish lightly. Lay down a first layer of the drained pizzoccheri, potato, and cabbage. Cover with an even, generous layer of Casera slices. Drizzle with one third of the browned butter. Repeat with a second layer of pasta and vegetables, a second layer of Casera, and another third of the butter. Finish with any remaining pasta and vegetables. Lay the Bitto slices evenly over the entire surface. Pour the remaining browned butter over the top. The layers are assembled correctly when equal cheese appears in each interior layer, not piled only at the surface.
5
Bake at 220 °C for 8–10 minutes only. The dish is done when the Bitto on top has melted and formed a visibly blistered, golden-brown gratinata and the edges of the dish are bubbling with rendered cheese and butter. Withdraw immediately — extended baking dries the pasta to paste.
6
Bring the terracotta dish directly to the table. Serve with a large spoon, ensuring each portion contains pasta, potato, cabbage, and pulled strands of melted cheese from the interior.