THE SARDINIAN COUSINE

Proud of its isolation, Sardinia can be probably considered the least "Italian" region of the Country. During the centuries the island was ruled by different peoples: the Romans, the Byzantines, the Genoese, the Spanish and at the end, the Italians. These peoples have left a deep mark in the local culture and cooking. For example, thanks to the Spanish olive oil, made in the Iberian peninsula, was introduced in the island. Today it is called ozzu 'e armanu or also ollu armanu, dialectal term which probably derives from the Spanish "hermano", that means brother.
It’s told that Spanish wanderers, going through the Sardinian locality and carrying on their shoulders ounces of oil, used to cry: "Oil, brothers". Also the recipe of tacculas should comes from the Spanish; they are boiled thrushes wrapped in the myrtle leaves and closed in little bags of jute.
Another Spanish food recipe is the cordula cun pisciuri, from the spanish cordero, lamb, and from the sardianan pisciuri, that means peas.

The cuisine has inherited from the Arabs spices and the Sardinian version of cous cous, on the island called cascà. It’s different from the original version cause of a vegetable sauce and gravy.

Bread: "Pane Carasau"

Impanadas

The main element: bread

The insular alimentation is based on one of the simplest elements: bread, milk, cheese and ovine meat. The most characteristic element of Sardinian cooking is bread. It is made up of unleavened wheat or barley–flour, which allow to keep longer.

It is no chance that the symbol of Sardinia is carasau bread, a sheet of thick bread, backed twice and a perfect substitute of new bread. It is used also reheated in the oven for few minutes and dressed with olive oil. In this case it’s called pane guttiau, to serve instead of croutons.

Very similar to pane carasau is the pane pistoccu, best known as "music paper" cause of the great likeness with the parchments, where the holy music was written. It’s typical of inner areas and it’s thicker and rectangular. It can be eaten pure, or damped; steeped in the soup it becomes in a simple nourishing dish.

A pastry similar to the pizza one is used to prepare the impanadas (to not confuse for the argentine empanadas). Thery are filling with meats, peas, artichokes, and olives.

Vegetables

Reclamations and modern irrigation systems have allowed the development of vegetables. Very used are: artichokes, onions, potatoes, eggplants, beans and tomatoes. Vegetables are used as seasoning for pasta, soup and meat.

Malloreddus, a kind of pasta

Pasta

The typical pasta is: malloreddus, also called Sardinian little gnocchi, striped shell of flour seasoning with sauce and sausage. Malloreddus are the traditional dish, most cooked all over Sardinia, during the feast and weddings.

The culurgiones are instead little bundles stuffed with boiled potatoes, pecorino, animals fats, extra-virgin olive oil, garlic and mint leaves.

The penne alla nuorese are seasoning with potatoes and onions.

The base of the soup, which are usully eaten by shepherds, is often, bread, such as pani frattau, damped bread followed by tomato and eggs, suppas, steeped bread with cheese. The fregula is another typical Sardinian soup. It consists of boiled thick freckle seasoning with slices of pecorino cheese or minced meat and tomato.

Meat: Shepherds cooking

Meat is greatly influenced by the traditional ways of shepherds’ cooking.
The most common ways are on the spit and the carraxiu, that means buried. It consists of a hole excavated in the ground. The hole is full with fire-brand and smelled-wood. The animal is cooked on a following coat of myrtle leaves, which gives it a pleasant taste.

One of the most cooked meat is the lamb, that in Nuoro is backed with tomato and fennels.

Very used are also, the kid, veal, rabbit and the pig.

The porceddu is the suckling pig, on the spit, cooked over a fire of different wood: myrtle, juniper, olive and laurel: durind the water is covered with lard. It can be served hot or cold.

A peculiar way of cooking was invented in Nuoro, where is famous malloru de su sabatteri, (cobbler’s bull). A veil is cooked, stuffed with a wild goat, which is stuffed with a suckling pig. Inside the pig there is a partridge, which contains a little bird. It is called cobbler’s bull, because it’s necessary exactly a cobbler to sew each animal which is stuffed.

Also the boar is often cooked. Unlike the wild pork, which is very similar to it, boar meat is very difficult to cook, because it is hard. So, the secret to prepare a good boar is to let the meat soak in wine with minced onions and myrtle-leaves.

A roast pork

Fish: the cousine of the sardinian coast-line

Fish: the cuisine of coast-lines

In the coastal regions, cooking is provided with all kind of Mediterranean fishes.
For example in Alghero you can taste the best crawfish, cooked in many ways: simply boiled and seasoning with oil and pepper, grilled or roasted. A typical recipe is the crawfish all’algherese, a sort of soup made up of boiled crawfish’ pulp, tomatoes, onions and mustard.
Very good are also, sardines, mollusks and sea-food. Among speciality is the gattuccio, a fish belonging to the sharks family. In Cagliari the burrida is obtaide from this fish. It is boiled, soaked in a sauce of oil, vinegar and walnut.

The most important and famous Sardinian soup is the cassola.
The bottarga is a seasoning made up of dried tuna eggs.

Cheese

As regards cheese, the most famous one is the pecorino caciofiore, marked by a dense paste with soft and spicy taste. It is made by soaking the gallium of artichoke-flower in the whole milk. It goes very well with bread and as seasoning, it’s one of the most delighted symbol of gastronomy in Sardinian. Other important sheep’s milk cheeses are: the canestrati (seasoned pecorinos in rattan baskets, the Paste di pecorino (similar to cream–cheeses), la Frue (ancestor of greek Feta) and the soft paste Frischu and hard paste (DOP) pecorinos.

A high quality have also goat’s milk cheeses, cottage cheese and caciocavallo. The casu marzu, is cheese let rot and infested with little worms: Its taste is very race; the su Casizzolu or (casu conzeddu), is a cow’s milk cheese, very good if it is eaten in the Sardinian way (on embers and myrtle buds ); Su casu is another classic Sardinian cheese: it can be made with cow’s and sheep’s milk, fresh is good cooked, seasoned is used to dress pasta.

A well known Sardinian meal: the Sardinian cheese

Some Sardinian sweets: Culurgiones, Fruttinas, etc... uhmmm!

Sweetmeats

To prepare sweets and cakes very used are the almond paste, cooked must, fruits, honey and cheese. Among the traditional Sardinian sweets there are: sebadas, big fried ravioli, full with cheese and covered with honey; the pardulas, traditional easter little cakes flavored with saffron; Sas fruttinas, sweets made up of almond paste, water, sugar, shaped in all kind of fruits: strawberries, figs, melons, bananas; the Sos pasticcettos, of almond paste, water sugar and lemon; the amaretti di Carloforte, the Sos Bistoccos, long shaped biscuits, made with flour, eggs, sugar, traditionally served with coffee during weddings and christenings.

And in conclusion we recall the most typical sweet of Nuoro: the aranzada, torrone made with orange-peel, roasted almonds and honey.

Wine

Only in the last decennia a new interest has grown for wine in the island. Thanks to clever experimentations new kind of products are invented, in alternative to the traditional very strong and alcoholics ones. Among the most overspread wine are worthy to be mentioned: Vernaccia of Oristano, (white wine which follows the local cheese and above all the pecorino) and the Cannonau of Cagliari, red wine, perfect to couple with meat. Execellent dessert wines are: Moscato of Sardegna and Malvasia of Bosa