They are called Blue Zones, they identify the parts of the world where it is possible to live happy and long
and there are very few of them: the Greek islet Icaria and the Japanese Okinawa, the Nicoya peninsula in Costa Rica and the community in Loma Linda in California,
but above all our Sardinia .
In this special island in the center of the Mediterranean sea, there are magical corners where the inhabitants arrive and often pass easily
the milestone of 100 years.
It will be the sea and mountain air, the favorable combination of the climate,
the traditional social structure, but various studies argue that the longevity of the Sardinian people can certainly be traced back
in addition to an appropriate lifestyle, a diet based mainly on the Sardinian-Mediterranean one.
In Sardinia, life has more taste
And it is precisely on a journey to discover our flavors that we want to accompany you, to introduce you to the precious foods of our tradition ...
fregola with seafood
The fregola with seafood is a classically Sardinian recipe; fregola or fregula is a dry pasta very similar to couscous
made mainly in Cagliari, Oristano and Campidano.
The durum wheat semolina is worked by hand by rubbing until small irregular spheres are obtained;
the flavor is characteristic and due to the natural drying and roasting of the pasta.
Ingredients for 4 people:
• 250 gr. of Sardinian fregola
• 1 kg. seafood (mussels, clams, cockles)
• 10/12 cherry tomatoes (cherry or piccadilly)
• 1 glass of vegetable broth
• 1 clove of garlic
• chili pepper
• chopped parsley
• extra virgin olive oil
• salt
PREPARATION:
Put the clams in a bowl, cover them with salted water and let them drain for at least 2 hours. Meanwhile, clean the mussels.
Put two pans on the heat with a few tablespoons of oil and a clove of garlic each and pour the clams in one and the mussels in the other.
Cover both with the lid and let the shellfish open. Once cooked, shell more than half of them, leaving the others with the shell. The cooking water
it should be filtered with a fine mesh strainer and set aside.
In a saucepan, put 4 tablespoons of oil and the chilli; when the oil is hot, add the chopped tomatoes and the fregola.
Deglaze everything with a white wine and a little water from the shellfish cooking.
Mix well and cook for a couple of minutes, then pour a little vegetable broth into the pot and cook.
When there are more or less 5 minutes at the end of cooking, put the shelled molluscs in the pot with the fregola.
Once ready, season the fregola with chopped fresh parsley and place the mussels and clams with their shells on each plate.
frattau bread
Frattau Bread is one of the typical poor dishes of traditional Sardinian cuisine.
The main ingredient of this dish is carasau bread, a very thin and crunchy bread spread throughout the island.
The pieces of bread are simply dipped in broth and seasoned with tomato sauce and grated pecorino cheese,
creating layers and, on top, it is completed with a poached egg that enriches the genuine and intense taste of this recipe.
INGREDIENTS for 4 people:
• 12 sheets of carasau bread
• 4 eggs
• 500 g puree made with Campidano cherry tomatoes
• 1/2 onion
• 30 g of DOP Sardinian Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 10 gr. White wine vinegar
• meat broth to taste
• Grated Pecorino Sardo DOP to taste
• Salt to taste
PREPARATION:
Break each sheet of carasau bread into 3-4 parts.
Peel and chop the onion, brown it in the oil, blend with the white wine and let it evaporate.
Add the tomato puree, add salt and cook for about 20 minutes.
Prepare the poached eggs by pouring water into a large pan, turn on a moderate heat, add the vinegar and a pinch of salt.
and when the water starts to boil, lower the heat.
With a whip always mix in the same direction to create a vortex.
Break one egg at a time into a small bowl and gently pour it into the center of the vortex.
Let the egg cook for 2 minutes and then drain it with the help of a slotted spoon.
Wet the pieces of carasau bread in the hot broth and put the sheets back on the plate.
Season the bread with a few spoonfuls of sauce and sprinkle with pecorino. Continue in the same way with the other two sheets of bread
and finish with a layer of sauce and pecorino cheese in the center of which you will place the poached egg.
campidano's malloreddus
A recipe originating from the Campidano region - the largest plain in Sardinia -
but now widespread throughout the island: Sardinian dumplings (malloreddus), made with durum wheat semolina and water, are seasoned
with a of tomato enriched with sausage and Sardinian pecorino and have a distinctive and decisive taste.
INGREDIENTS for 4 people:
• 400 g of malloreddus
• 300 g of sausage
• 200 g of fresh Pecorino Sardo
• 300 g of passata made with Campidano cherry tomatoes
• 1/2 onion
• 30 g of DOP Sardinian Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Salt to taste.
• a pinch of SARDINIA DOP Saffron
PREPARATION:
Peel and finely chop the onion then leave it to dry slowly in a pan together with the oil.
In the meantime, peel the sausage, crumble it coarsely with your hands and add it to the fried onion.
Brown it for 15 minutes over high heat, stirring often and then add the tomato sauce and a pinch of saffron.
Stir again and cover with a lid, leaving it to cook for about an hour and season with salt.
When the sauce is ready, cook the malloreddus in plenty of boiling salted water. Grate the pecorino in a bowl and add a ladle of water
cooking the pasta, blend with a blender until you get a smooth cream.
Drain the malloreddus and add them to the sausage sauce directly in the pan, stir and finally add the pecorino cream.
Stir well and serve the malloreddus still hot.
lamb with artichokes
A grandmother's dish that needs slow and patient cooking. The taste of lamb meat is enhanced by Sardinian spiny artichokes.
INGREDIENTS for 4 people:
• 600 g of lamb of Sardinia PGI cut into large pieces
• 7 Sardinian PDO spiny artichokes
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 40 g of Sardinian PDO Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• parsley to taste
• Salt to taste.
PREPARATION:
In a large pan, heat a few spoonfuls of extra virgin olive oil and fry the garlic over high heat.
After making it brown, remove it and add the chunks of lamb.
Add salt and stir everything, so that the meat is colored a little. Continue cooking over low heat and cover with the lid.
In the meantime that the meat is cooking, clean the artichokes, removing the hardest leaves and tips, and cut each head into large slices.
Add them to the meat, along with a little fresh chopped parsley and more salt to taste, when this is already well under way with cooking.
(you will see the meat begin to detach from the bone), that is, after at least 25 minutes.
Continue cooking for another 15-20 minutes, until the artichokes are cooked too.
"ghisatu" from red ox of montiferru
A delicacy of our land for those who love meat with a name of Catalan origin (guisado).
The island version of this stew, aromatic and tasty, sees the protagonist, in addition to the delicate meat raised in the Montiferru,
cannanau wine used to deglaze during cooking, but also ideal to use for marinating, which gives the meat
softness and enhances the flavors.
INGREDIENTS for 4 people:
• 1 kg of Montiferru red ox meat
• 1 clove of garlic
• 1 carrot and 1 onion
• 50 g of Sardinian Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 500 g of peeled and seeded Campidano tomatoes
• 1/2 glass of Cannonau di Sardegna DOC wine
• parsley to taste
• Salt and Pepper To Taste.
PREPARATION:
Cut the red beef pulp into large pieces, fry it in olive oil with chopped onions, carrot and Sardinian garlic.
Deglaze with half a glass of red wine, cook slowly adding some meat broth.
Let the cooking liquid evaporate and add the tomato pulp. Season with salt, pepper, a bay leaf and a sprig of parsley.
Cook for another ten minutes. Traditionally, maccarrones de ferrittu, a fresh pasta made by twisting it on a knitting needle, is shared with the sauce.
Today Sardinian gnocchetti or bucatini can replace it.
Su Ghisadu is served as a main course, accompanied by a glass of Bovale.
pardulas (ricottelle) with saffron
Among the most popular and loved Sardinian sweets there are certainly the ricotta pardulas, also called pardule.
These are delicious sweets made with sheep ricotta, lemon zest and saffron with a crunchy shell of dough.
They are usually prepared during the Easter period but nothing prevents them from being enjoyed at any time of the year.
INGREDIENTS for 4 people:
• 100 g of durum wheat semolina flour
• 100 g of flour 00
• 100 ml of water
• 1 teaspoon of lard
• 1 pinch of salt
• 250 g of sheep ricotta
• 1 egg yolk
• 6 tablespoons of powdered sugar
• 50 g of flour 00
• zest of 1 lemon
• honey (optional)
• 1/2 sachet of Saffron of Sardinia DOP
PREPARATION:
Place the ricotta from the night before to drain. mix the two flours and a pinch of salt.
Divide the yolk from the egg white and pour the egg white over the flours (keep the yolk for the filling). Add the lard and half of the warm water (50 ml) to the flour.
Begin to knead everything with a fork, adding the remaining water a little at a time until the dough is smooth and uniform.
Work it on the pastry board and then let it rest for 20 minutes under a cloth. Prepare the filling: work the yolk with the sugar and lemon zest.
Add the ricotta sifted through a sieve or passed with a potato masher, the saffron powder, a pinch of salt.
Add the sifted flour and work everything well with a spoon.
Now roll out the pastry not too finely using a pasta machine or a rolling pin. Cut circles with a diameter of 8 cm.
Take 2 teaspoons of filling and, rolling it between the palms of your hands, form balls.
Place them in the center of the puff pastry discs and close them at the edges by pricking them with your fingertips.
Place the pardulas on a baking sheet. Preheat the oven to 160 ° C. Bake the cakes in a hot oven and cook for at least 30 minutes.
