Pizzoccheri

I had pizzoccheri when we were in Bellagio on Lake Como and completely fell in love. It was basically buckwheat pasta with local veggies and cheeses--whatever they had around. I think I've tried to make it once since. I can't even remember. Anyway, on Sunday night I made up a batch of buckwheat pasta and assembled a crazy pizzoccheri.

Pasta
250g buckwheat flour
150g brown rice flour
enough water to form a smooth dough

The recipe I found in one of my books said to use fine wheat flour, but I decided to try something different. You know me. I can't follow a recipe. Using the rice flour makes it gluten free in case you're into that.

Other ingredients
swiss chard--boiled, drained, and chopped
fontina cheese
goat cheese
turkey bacon--cooked till crispy and finely sliced
olive oil
whatever other veggies you want to throw in

1. Combine the flours with water until a smooth dough forms. Knead gently for a couple of minutes.

This is what my dough ball looked like.

2. Roll out the dough. I took small batches of the dough, pressed them out flat, then ran them through the pasta roller on the thickest setting. Then I laid them on a lightly floured board.

My pasta roller, which hadn't seen the light of day in years.

3. Cut the pasta into thick strips. I think I cut mine a little too wide.

My pastry board with cut pasta.

4. Boil the pasta for about 3 minutes then drain. I did it in about 3 batches because I didn't want them all to stick to each other.

5. Assemble the pizzoccheri. I kind of just layered things. One layer of noodles, a drizzling of olive oil, some chard, some turkey bacon, and lots of cheese. Then I did a couple more layers.

The assembled dish.

6. Bake the dish at 350 for about 10 minutes--just until the cheese starts to melt and everything is hot.  I skipped this step and just heated my serving up in the micro. Ross thought it was warm enough and just ate it.

The leftovers we had last night were awesome, and we will be having more tonight. Traditionally this is made with chard, fontina, and potatoes, but when we had it in Bellagio the man who made it said that you just use whatever you have around. It's almost like hiding leftovers in pasta. Oh, and I forgot--I also put mushrooms and garlic in there. Can't forget the garlic!

I have some high hopes for making gnocchi this coming weekend.