Crozets de Savoie – French Pasta Or Is It?

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Continuing the April in Paris recipe series. Another pasta recipe that intrigued me was Crozets de Savoie. They looked easy enough to make and the technique is simple so I decided to give them a try.  As you may or may not know, the Europeans measure ingredients by grams so the recipe below uses grams to try to stay true to the French origins.

Origin of Crozets

The Savoie region of France has its’ own specialty pasta called Crozets.  These are small pieces of pasta typically flat and square.  This pasta was traditionally made at home by the housewife using wheat or buckwheat or both. Les Crozets first appeared in the Savoie in Tarentaise (located next to Mont-Blanc) in the 17th Century. However, it’s believed that the Crozetos were mentioned in a 14th Century Italian cookbook that was widely distributed in France. (Of course, the Italians would know about this pasta before the French!) The Crozetos were originally a small round shape made with the fingertip as the name comes from a cut made with the fingertip in the pasta dough.

Pasta or Rice?

Today, Crozets de Savoie are small, square-shaped, flat pasta. Crozets might be considered halfway between pasta and rice and can be cooked in many forms with a variety of ingredients. Recipes vary using mostly buckwheat flour to half or a quarter of buckwheat flour combined with another flour like wheat or all-purpose. 

Nutritional Benefits

Beyond their taste, Crozets have great nutritional qualities. They are considered a probiotic when made from Buckwheat flour and promote digestion and the proper functioning of the digestive system.

[Resources: Web24.news, cuisine actuelle, tasteofsavoie.com,]

The buckwheat flour turned the dough very dark even though the ratio of flour mixture was 2 parts all-purpose flour to 1 part Buckwheat. I used Bob’s Red Mill Buckwheat flour. I’m not sure all Buckwheat flours are as dark in color but the dough darkened quite a bit once the ingredients were combined.

And it’s soup! This is a simple way to use Crozets. I found it as tasty and comforting as most chicken soups that I make. I did miss the vegetables that I normally put in chicken soup but this was fine without them. I used more Parmesan cheese in the soup and as a garnish which kicked the flavor up a bit too. 

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