Wonderful on a cold day, this hearty dish is from Valtellina, high in the Italian Alps.

Pasta

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups buckwheat flour
• 3/4 cup Antimo Caputo 00 Flour
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1-2 tablespoons warm water
• 2 tablespoons milk
• Sea salt to taste

Sift all flour together with a pinch of salt into a  large bowl.  Add the egg, 1 tablespoon warm water, and the milk, and stir with a wooden spoon and then your fingers, adding a little more warm water if necessary to make a firm dough. Knead vigorously until dough is smooth. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and allow to rest at least 30 minutes.

Cut dough into 4 pieces. On a floured board, roll dough as thin as possible (this will be thicker than other homemade pastas) or run through a pasta machine to second to last setting. Cut into strips about 2 inches long and 3/4 of an inch wide. Continue with remaining pieces of dough.  Allow the cut pasta to rest under a damp kitchen towel while the sauce is being made.

Sauce

Ingredients

• 8 ounces Delitia Butter of Parma
• 4 fresh sage leaves
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 medium potato, peeled and thinly sliced
• 1 small head Savoy cabbage, trimmed and thinly sliced
• 1 cup Fontina Val d’Aosta DOP , grated
• 1 cup Aged Parmigiano-Reggiano DOP, grated
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 cups homemade bread crumbs.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. In a small saucepan over low heat, melt butter with sage and garlic until butter turns nut-brown; be careful not to burn sage leaves. Set aside. Cook potato and cabbage in boiling water until they begin to soften, just 5 minutes or so. Add pasta to same pot and continue to cook until pasta is almost al dente. Drain.

In a large oven-proof dish, spread a layer of vegetable-pasta combination, then a layer of grated Fontina, then a layer of grated Parmesan; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Continue layering until all ingredients are used, ending with a layer of Parmigiano. Cover dish with bread crumbs and drizzle with melted butter and sage. Bake for about 15 minutes, or until top is golden-brown and cheese has melted. Serve hot or warm.

Sauce adapted from Mark Bittman