Pizzoccheri is a substantial, earthy buckwheat pasta dish from Valtellina, the northeast, mountainous part of Lombardy, near to the Swiss border. It is an earthy dish with lots of cheese and butter, with potatoes and savoy cabbage, suitable for cold weather and big appetites – comfort food. Actually, there is also a lighter, more spring-like version of pizzoccheri, where cabbage is replaced by fagiolini, fine spring green beans. In other words, there is always a right time to enjoy this beautiful pasta dish. Continue reading “Pizzoccheri (Buckwheat pasta with cabbage, potatoes and lots of butter)”
Ris e latt is Milanese dialect for the Italian riso e latte, rice and milk. It sounds dull – it is not. It is a warming, un-showy but far from boring minestra (soup) from Lombardy: risotto rice simmered in a copious quantity of full fat milk and water, mildly flavored with a little onion and bay leaf, enriched in the end by a generous amount of butter and Parmesan, a touch of freshly grated nutmeg and a shower of chopped parsley. There are many versions of this dish: I prefer it soupy but it is also possible to make it thicker, although it should not be risotto-like. Some people cook the rice with milk only (too rich for me) and others start with cooking some chopped onion in butter and then add all the other ingredients. I have also seen versions with chestnuts (cooked, vacuum-packed chestnuts now easily available) and even with potatoes added to the liquid at the very beginning.
Italian home cooking 