Pizzocheri is a dish of the Valtellina Valley in Piemonte, Italy that is made up of buckwheat tagliatelle that are cooked with cabbage and potatoes, and then served with bitto cheese, and melted sage butter. Here we use the buckwheat grain in its whole form, and add some crunchy apples and healthy Tuscan kale to the mix. We also use fontina cheese, as bitto is difficult to find in the United States.

1 cup buckwheat groats
2 cups water
2 red bliss potatoes, medium dice
1 small head of Napa cabbage, Savoy also works, rinsed and dried
1 bunch of Tuscan Kale, rinsed and dried (you can use Chard here as well)
1 honey crisp apple
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
2 T butter
2 T olive oil
4 -6 sage leaves, torn up with your fingers
¼ lb fontina cheese, small dice

Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Place buckwheat groats and water in a pot. Bring it to a boil, and then cover and simmer for 20 minutes, or until the water is full absorbed.
Cut the cabbage and kale into fine ribbons.
Bring a medium sized pot of water to boil. Cook the potatoes in the water, and when they are fork tender, add in the cabbage and kale. Cook for one minute more, until the kale and cabbage are softened.
Take the pot off the heat, and drain the vegetables, reserving about ¼ cup of liquid.
In a small saucepan, heat up the butter and olive oil with the garlic on medium low heat, adding in the sage once the butter has melted. Let the butter infuse on low heat for 5 minutes.
Chop up the apple into small dice. (You can do this earlier, but apples turn brown when exposed to air.) Mix the apples with the cabbage, kale, and potatoes. Add salt if you would like.
In a 8-inch square baking dish, place a layer of the cooked buckwheat groats, followed by a layer of the vegetables. Now add on the fontina cheese dice. Repeat the layers again and bake the dish for 15 minutes.

Buon Apetito!

1 2-inch knob of ginger
6 cups water
2 cups loose shitake mushrooms, cleaned and chopped in half
1 cup kale (about 3 leaves)
2 heaping tablespoons white miso paste
1 handful soba noodles (sometimes they come segmented into bunches, you need about one bunch)
½ large carrot, peeled (optional)
1 scallion (optional)

Make the ginger broth by grating the knob of ginger with a cheese grater, and then putting it into a pot with the 6 cups of water. You should have about 2 tablespoons of grated ginger to infuse.
Bring the water to a boil and simmer slightly for about 15 minutes. Let it sit for another 15 minutes if you can, but you are welcome to go along at this point.

Bring another pot of water to a boil. Cook the soba noodles for about 6 minutes in the boiling water, drain, and rinse them with cold water. Set the cooked noodles aside.

Drain the infused ginger broth of the grated ginger and bring the liquid to a boil.
Add in the shitake mushrooms and simmer until soft, and then add in the kale and simmer until cooked through. Turn off the heat.
Now, place the miso into a small bowl. Pour in some of the soup water, and soften the miso. Pour everything back into the pot and stir until the miso is well integrated into the soup.

Serve the dish by placing a heap of noodles in a bowl, then covering with the broth, making sure to get a good amount of kale and mushrooms in each serving.

Slice the carrots into thin strips, and thinly slice the scallions. Use these as a garnish on the soup.

Serves 4.

½ lb ground lamb
½ onion, fine dice
1 garlic clove, minced
2 T pistachios
¼ cup barley, soaked for four hours
½ cup water
1 tsp salt
¼ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp cumin
Pinch of black pepper

Drain the barley and put it in a pot with the water.

Bring the water to a boil, then lower the heat, cover, and simmer until the barley is cooked through and fluffy.

Transfer it to a plate or bowl and let it cool to room temperature.

Making the barley should take 30 minutes maximum.

While the barley is cooking, grind the pistachios to a powder. If you do not have any kitchen equipment, use your knife, and chop them as fine as you can.

Mix all of the ingredients together with your hands.

Form the patties, making sure they are not too thick. They should look like mini burgers.

How you cook them will depend on your own taste or preference:

Bake them at 400F for 20 minutes.

Grill them outside on a nice day.

Or cook them in a pan on your stove top.

These should be able to make 8 medium sized koftes.

Roasted Eggplants:
2 medium eggplants, sliced in 1/2 inch discs
Olive oil
Salt

Sprinkle the eggplant with salt and let them sweat out their bitter juice for about ½ an hour.

Dry off their sweat with some paper towel and brush them with some olive oil.

Bake them at 400F for 30-40 minutes, or until they are nice and soft.

Pomegranate Yogurt:
1 T pomegranate molasses
1 cup plain yogurt
Some mint sprigs

Mix together the pomegranate molasses with the yogurt and garnish with mint. If you do not have pomegranate molasses, plain yogurt is perfectly fine.