Name: Tuna & Buckwheat-Pasta Gratin
Yield: Serves 6
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 1 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil; 1 cup [240 ml] Chicken Stock; 3 bay leaves; ¼ cup [60 ml] warm (130°F [54°C]) water, plus more if needed; 1 dried guajillo chile; 1 garlic head, halved through the equator; 2 eggs, at room temperature; 1 red onion, thinly sliced; 1 fennel bulb, quartered; 3 Tbsp roughly chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley; 2 shallots, halved; 6 oz [170 g] Gruyère cheese, grated; 1 cup [240 ml] white wine; Freshly ground black pepper; Kosher salt; 1 Tbsp unsalted butter; 1 tsp fine sea salt; Semolina flour for dusting; 3 cups [720 ml] extra-virgin olive oil, plus more if needed; 2 lb [910 g] albacore tuna loin, cut into 4-oz [115-g] medallions; Zest of 2 lemons, cut into large strips; 1½ cups [180 g] coarse buckwheat flour, preferably Anson Mills Rustic Aromatic Buckwheat Flour; 1½ cups [360 ml] Buttermilk Crème Fraîche; 3 fresh thyme sprigs; 4 garlic cloves, sliced; 2 celery ribs, cut into ¼-in [4-mm] slices; 2 handfuls Garlic Croutons, fully cooled; ½ cup [60 g] bread flour, plus more for sprinkling; ¼ head green cabbage, cored and cut into ½-in [12-mm] strips; ½ cup [60 g] freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Preparation info

Serves
6

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Gjelina

By Travis Lett

Published 2015

About

This is a riff on the classic tuna-noodle casserole (which I grew up on and adore), but it incorporates an earthy and substantial buckwheat pasta from northern Italy known as pizzoccheri. Because of buckwheat’s relatively low gluten content, you have to be quite thorough and firm in kneading to get a cohesive dough that rolls out smoothly. A buckwheat noodle will always have a more substantial and hardy texture, which I love, but it’s not for everybody. This is a beautiful wintery, Alpine p