The popularity of chestnuts in cooking can be attributed to their easy availability and inexpensiveness. Let‘s look at a dish of pasta with chestnut flour from the Staffora Valley.
Chestnuts have been part of the human diet since ancient Greece. It was Hippocrates who was the first to realise their innumerable properties both in the culinary and social spheres due to the fact that they are very suitable for heating. Chestnuts from the Staffora Valley are one of the heritages of the Oltrepò Pavese territory and have been ever since they were identified as the bread of the poor.
The spread of chestnuts in cooking is linked to their easy availability in the territory and their cheapness. Farmers, in fact, not having many raw materials at their disposal, used to go into the woods of the Staffora Valley to gather chestnuts that were then boiled or ground to make flour. Chestnut and milk soup, a typical autumn dish of the area, was also very popular. following industrialisation, rural areas were gradually abandoned, as was chestnut picking, which came to a standstill for some time.
The Oltrepò Pavese is very attached to chestnuts, so much so that they are celebrated, together with wine, on St Martin‘s Day. During the autumn, there is no local festival that does not offer roasted chestnuts, which were once considered a poor man‘s food but are now no longer considered affordable. The tradition, however, remains and evolves, sublimating with the combination with other local products.
A good chestnut paste goes perfectly with pancetta pavese, a typical food product made from the processing of the fatty layer of the pig‘s half-carcase. The rolled bacon is spiced, cooked and matured for at least 60 days, after which it is used in the rich Pavia chopping boards, but also in delicious recipes.
INGREDIENTS FOR 4 PEOPLE
Dough
● 150 g Staffora Valley chestnut flour
● 150 g of 0-grade flour
● 3 eggs
Topping
● 150 g pancetta
● ½ glass of white wine
● 80 g goat‘s cheese (Fattoria i Grater)
● 40 g leeks
PROCEDURE
Prepare the dough by mixing all the ingredients together and leaving it to rest in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
Brown the bacon in a pan with the leeks until slightly stewed. Then deglaze with white wine. Separately grate the cheese.
Roll out the chestnut pastry and roll out the dough. Give it your preferred shape: tagliatelle, tagliolini, maltagliati. Cook in boiling, salted water. Sauté in a pan with pancetta and leek and add grated cheese with the heat off. Stir-fry.
Wine pairing: Oltrepò Pavese Chardonnay Blanc - Tenuta Mazzolino
