Spizzulus

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. 

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Serves: 2-3

Ingredients

• 200g of fine durum wheat semolina
• 100ml of water 

Method

1. First of all, make a batch of the semolina dough by following our recipe here and rest the dough, covered, for 30 minutes in the fridge. 
2. Working with a small amount at a time, start by cutting off ⅕ of the dough and then roll it into a long rope, about the thickness of a pencil. Now cut into 6-7cm long pieces.
3. Using a knife or a bench scraper, roll each piece along the gnocchi board. Although the traditional recipe uses the gnocchi board, you can do it without if you don’t have one. Simply drag each piece across the table surface, this will not give you the ridges but you’ll get a smooth surface which in Italian is known as pasta liscia (with no ridges). 
4. Now connect the ends to create a loop and pinch to seal. (Watch the video)​

Traditionally spizzulus are served with a meaty tomato sauce but you can serve them with whatever sauce you like or whatever is in season in your country.

We like to serve them with another Sardinian speciality - sheep ragù and you can find the recipe here. 
Alternatively they are also great with pesto - you can find our pesto sauce recipe here.

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