Chestnut and Buckwheat Pizokel with Veggies

I had these pizokels, a kind of pasta looking a little like crude noodles, in a restaurant near my office, which specialises in the cuisine of the Grison part of Switzerland. Massimo, who runs the place, has connections to the Italian Valtellino, but also to the Valley of Poschiavo in the Grisons. In December I ate at the restaurant with a friend and the speciality of the day was this dish. I loved the slightly sweet taste of the pizokel, and Massimo was so generous as to give me his recipe. 
So here is my take (actually, the topping) on his dish. We had it on Christmas eve and the kids seemed to like it too.

One last thing: the recipe as suggested in the picture makes enough for two very good sized meals for a family of four.

What you need

• 150 g wheat or spelt flour
• 150 g buckwheat flour
• 150 g chestnut flower (or purée , but then you need to adjust the liquid)
• 300 – 400 ml milk
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 10 g salt
• a bunch of parsley, chopped
• 1nob of butter for frying
• one good-sized onion chopped
• for carnivores, thin slices of streaky bacon, cut into mouth-sized pieces
• 1 – 2 largish leeks, cut into 1cm slices
• ½ cabbage (any kind, perhaps except red cabbage), cut into 1cm strips
• 2-3 cloves of garlic (not in the picture) in thin slices
• 3-4 carrots, sliced
• 80 ml of white wine
• salt and pepper
• 200-300 g mature cheese, an Alp cheese preferably, grated

What you do

1. Mix the flours, milk, eggs and salt into a fairly thick batter (I made it a bit too thin) and beat with a wooden spoon until bubbles rise to the top if you stop beating it.
2. Add the parsley and leave to sit for about 20 minutes.
3. Bring a large pot of salt water to the boil.
4. On a wet chopping board spread some of the batter, which you then cut with a large knife into noodle width and wipe into the boiling water. Traditionally the batter is run over a wet board into boiling water (you can see how this is done very briefly, 1:20 – 1:28 in this video. I was lazy and used a special contraption for making “Spätzli”, which are small dumplings instead of the flat, thickish noodley things)
5. When the pizokels, come to the top they are done. They are skimmed off and cooled in a sieve with ice-cold water running over them (to keep them firm and allow the excess to be frozen).
6. Place them in an ovenproof dish, about 3 cm deep. (Add butter flakes if you like and don’t mind the calories…)
   
   
7. In a large frying pan melt the butter, add the onion, the garlic (the bacon now if you are using any) and the vegetables. Stir vigorously as if stir-frying.
8. Add the wine and a little veggie broth if it looks too dry.
9. When the vegetables are done to the level of bite you like, distribute them over the pizokels and cover with the grated cheese.
10. Bake in the oven or under the grill, making sure the pizokels are hot and the cheese is melted.