Italian cooking is intensely regional, and the Valle D'Aosta more regional than much of the rest of the country. Here you'll find recipes from the Valle D'Aosta, everything from carbonade (a hearty stew) to pain perdu, a French toast.
This is a winter recipe from the Val D'Aosta, and will be a rather nice one-course meal. If you cannot find chestnut flour with which to make the pasta, regular store-bought fettuccine will also work, as would whole-wheat pasta.
Though Italians generally associate cavolo nero with Tuscany, it's grown throughout the land, and this recipe is from the Valle d'Aosta. It's generally served as a one-course meal.
The Val D'Aosta is just a short drive from Torino, but the cuisine is rich, varied, and very different.
A tasty salad with lots of things including cheese, and an unusual (for Italy) cream-based dressing.
A Salami Frittata, or Frittata con il Salame: This is one of the Valdostan dishes that would have been the major player in a one-course meal in the past, and has now become an antipasto (in small wedges). In Val D'Aosta it would have been made using butter or lard as the fat for the skillet because they didn't have olive oil, but you're free to use olive oil if you prefer. In terms of the salami, you should use something that's mild; if you're in the US, perhaps Genoa salami.
Baked Apples, or Mele al Forno: Baked apples is one of those obvious dishes that one can find almost anywhere; this particular version is from the Valle d'Aosta, and is traditionally made with renette apples, which are yellowish brown spotted apples that are rather tart, and very good for cooking.
Rice and Dried Chestnuts, or Riso e Castagne: This is a classic peasant dish from the Valle D'Aosta, which combines a little luxury -- the rice -- with chestnuts, which were a mainstay in the diet of the rural poor throughout the mountainous regions of Italy.
Salad with Fromazdo Cheese: In much of Italy salads are simply dressed with oil, vinegar, salt, and no pepper. In Val D'Aosta things are a little different, because it's too far north for olive trees to grow, and few could afford olive oil, which was imported from either Liguria, Provence or Lago Maggiore. Instead they used walnut oil, and a variety of dairy and cheese mixtures that Americans and northern Europeans may find more normal than would most of the people living elsewhere in Italy.
Seupa Vapellenentse: This is one of the classic soups of the Valle D'Aosta, in part because the ingredients were readily available -- stale bread, Fontina cheese, and cabbage, which grows well in the cold of mountain valleys. Alas, this dish has suffered its popularity; many restaurants simply boil the cabbage, rather than sautéing it in cured lard or pancetta, and that makes for a soup that's watery and uninteresting.
Creamy Squash Soup with Fontina, or Crema di Zucca con Fontina: This recipe was gathered in the Monte Bianco area by Luciana Faletto Landi, who says it was a traditional way to make use of stale rye bread. To serve 4:
Pain Perdu -- -- French Toast
Valdostan Fricassee, or Fricandò Valdostano: Fricandeau is the French name for a cut of meat known in Italian as sottonoce (a part of the rump), and also the dish made by lardoning it and braising it in wine, with vegetables. It's also made in Piemonte and Liguria, though with broth rather than wine. In the Valle d'Aosta they use wine, but traditionally used cured rather than fresh beef. Some cooks thicken the sauce with a little flour, and others add 1-2 tablespoons of tomato paste.
Carbonade is one of the classic Valdostan stews, and was a mainstay of the valley diet. The traditional recipe calls for the use of salt-cured beef, which is quite dark and gives the dish its name (carbonade, charbon, charcoal). Now restaurants commonly prepare it with fresh beef, though some marinate the meat overnight. Cooking times have also decreased from the three hours of the original and now some put the onions through a strainer or thicken the sauce with a little flour.
Val D'Aosta-Style Cutlets, or Costolette alla Valdostana: The Val D'Aosta is famed for its dairy products, so the use of butter and cheese here come as no surprise. The recipe is, however, a relatively new development, thought up to please tourists who visit the region.
Creamy Risotto with Fontina, or Risotto Mantecato alla Fontina: Mantecato means creamy, and this certainly will be; it's a feast-day dish from the Val D'Aosta, specifically the valley floor and the sections closest to Piemonte. If you're really into cheese, you can also grate some Parmigiano over it, but I would find it superfluous.
Montebianco, Europe's highest peak, has lent its name to this dessert, which seems to have been invented by a French pastry chef. No matter; it's quite popular in the Val d'Aosta too, and has spread throughout the land as a winter dessert, both because it's tasty and because it lends itself to innumerable flights of artistic fancy.
Stringy Potato Gnocchi, Gnocchi di Patata alla Bava: The word bava actually means drool, of the stringy kind produced by some dogs. However, in this case we're referring to the stringiness of the cheese sauce, not the reaction of the diners to hearing what's on the menu. The recipe is one of the newer creations from the Valle D'Aosta, and has become extremely popular.
A feast-day dish from the Italian side of Monte Bianco.
Mocetta is one of Valle D'Aosta's traditional cured meats, and in the past the animal used was mountain goat. Now most of the goats are in national parks, and though some are still raised for the purpose, people also use beef. It is in any case a preparation that should only be undertaken after temperatures have dropped in the fall, and will require a cool dry place for both the salting and the aging.
Sausage and Potatoes, or Salsicce e Patate: Sausage and potatoes would strike one as obvious, and the combination is, especially in mountainous areas where potatoes grow well and contribute heavily to the diet. Indeed, in the past this was often the only item on the menu in the Val D'Aosta's mountain inns. You'll need four mild Italian link sausages that aren't too fatty. With a salad, it will do an excellent job of keeping the chill of winter at bay. To serve 4 you'll need:
Braised Mountain Goat, or Stambecco Brasato: A classic recipe from the Val D'Aosta; it will also work with venison, and if I lived where caribou were available I would consider it too.
Roe Buck Boscaiola Style, or Capriolo alla Boscaiola: Mountains have game, and they also have mushrooms in the underbrush of the wooded slopes. This recipe is from the Val D'Aosta, and calls for the hindquarter of a young buck; you'll want a boneless or bone-in venison roast weighing 6-8 pounds (3-4 k).
Caffè alla Valdostana, or Valdostan Coffee: Wherever you go in the Alps, it seems, you will run across fortified coffees, which are often served in a multi-spouted wooden container called a [i]grolla[/i] (friendship cup), the idea being that each person will take a sip from a spout, then pass the container on to the next person who will use the next spout. The tradition may be born of barracks customs among soldiers, but it's by now well rooted.
