The Omnivorous Fish

The word pizzocheri refers to one of two things, one accurately, one less so. The less accurate meaning is pasta made from buckwheat, often with fluted edges, but in reality pizzocheri is a dish from Valtellina, featuring said pasta along with boiled cabbage, fontina cheese and sometimes potatoes or sometimes cured pork, like speck (smoked prosciutto). I’ve been thinking about rye pasta recently, which is common across the border in Switzerland, and I’ve been trying to work out a recipe, since so few exist, which has left me with about 5 lbs of rye pasta lying around. Having also had pizzocheri on the brain, I sort of brought the two sides of the border together with a Swiss-inspired version of pizzocheri. It’s a bit more involved, and is decidedly Teutonic, but lends itself to rye’s delicate flavor.

All the elements of the dish have more than enough heat to melt the cheese and meld together, but sometimes you see pizzocheri covered with breadcrumbs and baked in the oven. That might be ok with pasta asciutta (the stuff that comes in a box), but I think fresh pasta is too delicate to wait any longer than absolutely necessary to enjoy it.

Rye Pasta alla Valtellina
Serves 6 amply

5 oz rye flour
5 oz semolina flour
(about 1 cup of each)
1 egg
2-1/2 ounces water (by weight or volume- the weight of 1 ounce is the weight of 1 fluid ounce of water)

1 tbsn olive oil or other cooking oil
2 slices bacon, cut crosswise into strips
1 onion, chopped
1 head red cabbage, outer leaves removed, cut into eights, cored and shredded ¼” wide
salt and black pepper
2 whole cloves or one large pinch ground cloves
1 bay leaf
1 cup red wine
3 tbsn red wine vinegar
2 tsp caraway seeds

8 ounces fontina cheese, cut into ¾” cubes

1 Stir together the rye and semolina in a bowl and make a well in the center. Add the egg and some of the water to the well and beat with a fork, taking some of the flour into the egg as you go. Sprinkle the rest of the water over the flour and stir with a fork until a dough starts to form. Reach into the bowl and alternately squeeze and push at the dough until it is mostly together and place on a work surface. Take any doughy bits left in the bowl and press them into the dough. Knead for a few minutes until the dough is smooth and uniform.

It is normal for the dough- any dough made with semolina- to be moist to the touch at first, although it will lose this surface moisture as you knead and the semolina hydrates. If the dough remains sticky, though, sprinkle it with any flour left in the bottom of the bowl, or with some rye flour, or even white flour.

Wrap the dough in plastic and set it aside at room temperature while you prepare the cabbage. It should rest at least an hour before rolling so the semolina has time to hydrate.

2 Heat the oil over medium heat and add the bacon. Yes, it seems strange to cook the bacon in oil, but this amount of bacon won’t render enough fat to cook the onions and cabbage.

When the bacon is beginning to brown, add the onions. Sweat the onions for a few minutes until they are softened. Increase the heat to high, add the cabbage and stir to coat with fat. Season the cabbage with salt, pepper, cloves and bay leaf and stir. Add the wine and vinegar and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium to medium low, so that the liquid simmers excitedly, but doesn’t boil. Cover and cook for thirty minutes, stirring occasionally.
3 Meanwhile, toast the caraway seeds in a dry pan for a minute or two, tossing constantly, until fragrant. Transfer to a dish or bowl and set aside.

4 Set a large pot of salted water to boil. The water should taste as salty as seawater, probably saltier than you think it should be. That’s ok, just do it.

Working with ¼ of the pasta dough at a time, roll it out into a rectangle about as thin as a dime. When in doubt, go thinner. If using a pasta machine, roll it to the next-to-thinnest setting.

Let the sheets of dough dry for a minute or two, then sprinkle with flour, roll up loosely and cut into 3/8” wide tagliatelle. Even if using a pasta machine, I would advise you to cut the pasta by hand; the irregularity of hand cutting feels good in your mouth.

5 Add the caraway seeds to the cabbage and continue to simmer until the cabbage is quite tender, then turn heat to low.

Add the pasta to the boiling water and cook through, a minute or two if using freshly made pasta.

Meanwhile, put the cabbage mixture in the bottom of a large bowl and stud with the cheese. Drain pasta when ready and add to the bowl. Let the bowl stand without mixing for one minute (to melt cheese), toss and serve immediately.

Whaddaya think?