 This is Sardinian sheep ragù!
The process is very similar to other meat ragù, although this recipe has a much more intense and wild flavour. Sheep meat is also much fattier and gamier in flavour than lamb meat. It's often eaten in Sardinia on special occasions and you can find many delicious recipes using this type of meat. This recipe is often made with whole cuts of meat but the ragù using mince meat is our favourite version of this dish. Once the ragù is made it can stay in the fridge for up to 3 days or it can be frozen in small batches for up to 3 months. It will taste even better from the day after you make it as it will have cooled down properly overnight and the flavours will have combined all together to make a very tasty ragù! If you can’t find sheep mince you can substitute it for lamb mince. Of course sheep meat is fattier and stronger in flavor but lamb is a good substitute and will still make a tasty ragù!
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 You might not have seen this rare pasta shape before. It's called spizzulus and it's a traditional fresh pasta from Orroli in Sardinia, a very small town in the south of the island.
The name comes from our dialect and it literally means "to pinch" referring to the pinching method used to seal the ropes of dough together into a loop. Although most Sardinian pasta shapes are very unusual and a bit tricky to make by hand, these ones are very easy and are great to accompany with whichever sauce you wish. Because of the way they are shaped, the pasta stays thick giving the final dish a good bite. We used a classic semolina and water pasta dough here but in Orroli there is also a different dough version made with Cannonau, a delicious red wine from Sardinia, instead of the usual water.  This is Pane Frattau!
In the last Sardinian episode on our social medias we made Pani Carasau from scratch, a delicious crispy sheet of bread, and today we are making a Sardinian lasagna with it! Layers of pecorino cheese, tomato sauce and music paper bread gives this dish the idea of being a kind of lasagna. This signature dish from Sardinia, literally called Pane Frattau in Sardininan language, it is pesant food at is very best, cheap ingredients but with a very rich flavours when combined together. Making your own broth is crucial here as the music paper bread is soften in a full flavour broth, usually a rich sheep or vegetable broth, so avoid using a shopbought stock cubes.  Welcome back to our Sardinian food series. Today we’re talking about "carta da musica", better known as "pane carasau" in the Sardinian language. Pane carasau actually has nothing to do with music, it literally means “toasted bread” as it is cooked twice but we like to call it music bread because of the unique crackly noise it makes when it’s broken or eaten. When the bread is put back into the oven for the second time, a large part of the water is eliminated and no crumb is formed, creating a dry and crunchy product. This process gives it a unique light, crunchiness while the semolina flour used in the recipe makes the bread nuttier and sweeter. This makes pane carasau very addictive and easy to eat, especially when drizzled with olive oil.
This ancient bread is deeply connected to Sardinian traditions of shepherding. Because it lasts a long time, the shepherd’s wives would prepare it for their husbands to eat while working long days in the fields. Thanks to its wide round shape and crispy consistency, they used it - literally - as a dish, gradually eating it together with the other ingredients, especially cured meat and cheeses. The love and care to make this bread was enormous and it’s one of the oldest types of bread in the world. Even today you’ll find pane carasau on the table at almost every meal and it’s definitely one of our favourites foods.  This is Sardinian focaccia, better known as Su Mustazzeddu or Pani cun Tammatiga (in Sardinia language).
It is a type of focaccia made with semolina flour instead of just white flour, which gives it a very crispy, golden crust - like a sort of cross-over between a focaccia and a pizza. Unlike other focaccia, it’s served stuffed with a delicious, soft filling of sweet tomatoes, basil and garlic, and even aubergine in some parts of Sardinia. It is said that it was the Sardinian nuns who invented it during periods of poverty so that they could bring a whole meal to the poor instead of just simple bread.  Culurgiones are one of the most famous signature dishes from Sardinia and they are easily recognisable by their characteristic shape that looks like a wheat ear (spiga or spighitta in Sardinian language). The biggest difficulty people face when making this type of stuffed pasta is the closure of the pastry, which is what gives the culurgiones their distinctive appearance.
This pasta shape itself represents the link between the agropastoral tradition of the wheat as a raw material for the production of fresh pasta and the skilful dexterity of Sardinian women. This type of ravioli are recognised by pasta makers from all over the world as one of the hardest pasta shapes to make. Culurgiones can now be found all over Sardinia but they originate from Ogliastra, a town in the central-eastern part of Sardinia. |