Supa Valpellinentze

Ingredients

• 500 g stale rye bread, several days old, sliced 1 cm thick
• 1 head Savoy cabbage, outer leaves removed, blanched and drained
• 300 g Fontina DOP, rind removed, sliced 3–4 mm thin
• 1.5 litres beef consommé, genuinely clarified, crystal-clear and deeply flavoured
• For the gratinate topping
• 250 ml whole milk
• 50 g unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

Method

1. 1
   Toast the stale rye bread slices in a dry oven at 160 °C until rigid and lightly coloured on both sides. The bread is ready when it resists pressure at the centre and shows no soft give — it must absorb consommé without dissolving.
2. 2
   Blanch the Savoy cabbage leaves in well-salted boiling water until just tender but still holding their structure. Drain thoroughly and press out excess water. The leaves should be pliable and yielding but retain distinct body — no waterlogging.
3. 3
   In a large deep baking dish, lay down a single even layer of toasted rye bread. Cover with a layer of blanched cabbage leaves, then lay Fontina slices across in a single continuous sheet, 3–4 mm thick. Repeat the sequence — bread, cabbage, Fontina — until all principal ingredients are used, finishing with a layer of Fontina. This is where the dish lives or dies: each layer must remain distinct, the Fontina must be sliced thin enough to melt completely through before the top is applied, and the bread must be stale enough to hold its structure under the consommé. A rubbery, unmelted cheese layer or a dissolved bread base cannot be recovered.
4. 4
   Heat the clarified beef consommé to a bare simmer. Ladle it slowly and evenly over the assembled layers until the liquid reaches the top layer of Fontina without fully submerging it. The bread should be saturated; the consommé should be visible at the edges of the dish, trembling gently when the dish is moved.
5. 5
   Warm the milk and pour it evenly over the surface of the dish. Distribute the butter pieces across the top in an even layer. Place the dish, uncovered, in the oven at 160 °C. Bake until the surface is uniformly golden and the milk-and-butter topping has gratinated to a continuous crust. The crust should be golden across its full extent, with no pale or wet patches remaining — the smell will shift from dairy-sweet to lightly caramelised and nutty.
6. 6
   Remove from the oven and allow the dish to rest for 10 minutes before portioning. The layers will settle and the consommé will partially absorb into the bread. The surface crust should hold its form when gently pressed at the edge with a spoon.