A (long) Postcard From Sardinia

I've just returned from a short (well a week but it was too short and hard to leave) holiday in Alghero on the Northwest coast of Sardinia with my best friend Naomi. We had chosen a number of sightseeing type places to visit but in the end that all went out the window as we got truly into the laid back and relaxed vibe and spent our days reading on the beach, followed by evening aperitivo, fantastic meals, leisurely passeggiata, a digestif or two then bed.  Bliss.

A favourite apertif - Aperol Spritz

Gnochetti Sardi

Culurgiones - Sardinian ravioli

Delicious mixed antipasti with pane carasau

The runny cheese was outstanding

More culurgiones

We visitied an agriturismo one evening to sample a huge 15 course of typically Algherese cuisine, the highlight of which was the roast suckling pig.. oh if only we'd taken it easy with the antipasti and primi..

Delicious salami, cotto & prosciutto

Various cheeses and roasted aubergine

Fregola - a Sardinian pasta

Is that culurgiones I spy?

The suckling pig - yum. There was a lamb dish as well but I forgot to take a pic

Typical dolci

Calamari fritti

Spaghetti all'algherese

 Another evening called for another 15 course blowout - this time of the fish and seafood variety in a fantastic little restaurant in Alghero's centro storico.  Excellent evening made all the more special by the friendly and frankly madcap staff and locals.

Various seafood antipasti - alici, mussels, octopus, fish in different preparations

Mixed seafood and vongole pastas

Taglioni with peas in squid ink

Gamberones

Calamari

Seabass

Gorgeous crema catalana tart

 

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Fettucine with lamb & artichoke ragu

If you’ve read the post on Rome you will have seen that I ate an excellent Tuscan pasta dish of lamb and artichokes that I enjoyed so much I really wanted to try and recreate it at some point.

With that in mind I bought a (rather expensive) jar of lovely little chargrilled baby artichokes in extra virgin oil in Volpetti while in Rome. The original dish I ate almost certainly used fresh artichokes - it was artichoke season after all.  But the artichoke season is pretty short and  in any case I really liked the look of the jarred ones I bought.

I also bought a bottle of good white truffle oil and while there didn’t seem to be any truffle in the dish that I ate in Rome it seems to me to be a good addition.

So this is the recipe that I’ve come up with and I think it’s a pretty good facsimile.

Fettucine con ragu bianco di agnello e carciofi
Serves 2 

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 medium banana shallot, finely chopped
2-3 cloves garlic (I used 3 cloves wet garlic)
200g lamb mince
3 baby chargrilled artichokes in olive oil (only use 1 or 2 if larger)
3-4 sage leaves, finely chopped
sprig of rosemary, needles finely chopped
juice of ½ lemon
small glass of white wine
250ml lamb stock
sea salt and white pepper
200g dried fettucine
truffle oil (optional)
freshly grated aged parmesan reggiano to serve
finely chopped parsley to serve

Heat the oil in a wide heavy-based frying or sauté pan then fry the shallots over a lowish heat until softened (about 5 minutes). Meanwhile slice the artichokes thinly and then cut the slices lengthwise - set aside.

Add the garlic to the shallots and continue to stir for a couple of minutes.

Push the shallots and garlic to the side of the pan, turn the heat up and brown the lamb, breaking it up as you fry it.

Add the herbs and the sliced artichokes and continue to cook for a couple of minutes.

Add the wine and let this bubble away and reduce while you put the salted water on for the pasta.

After about 5 minutes the wine should have mostly evaporated so add the broth and lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste (remembering that the stock, if from a cube will be fairly salty) and turn the heat down to low. 

Cover the pan by three-quarters and let simmer for about 15 minutes until the meat mixture is moist but not liquid. Cook the pasta according to the instructions.

Drain the fettucine, making sure to reserve a little of the pasta water then stir both the pasta and reserved water (a few tbsps worth) into the sauce. The sauce should cling silkily to the pasta strands.

Serve, trickling over a little truffle oil if using, plus scatter over some grated parmesan and a little chopped parsley.

Welcome to my new favourite pasta dish...

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A ménage à Mortadella

I've been doing so much gardening lately that I've got really behind on the blog.. I'm going to have to do a hell of a lot of posts over the next few days to get even close to catching up!

But anyway, this I hope will be a good start being as it will be a fairly bumper post of recipes using the mortadella that I brought back from Rome (strictly speaking it's called mortazza in Rome).  Mortadella actually originates from Bologna and is a firm, pink Italian sausage that is heavily seasoned and studded with little cubes of fat that give it it's prized melt in the mouth texture, and usually some other ingredient such as pistachios, peppercorns or even truffles. 

I chose to use it in a few pasta recipes and also a Sformato (loosely translated as a savoury, moulded dish -kind of like a denser soufflé) for something a little different.

Linguine alla mortadella 

Serves 2

2 tsp olive oil
2 cloves Garlic, thickly sliced
¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes (I use the Korean type)
small onion, finely chopped
80g Mortadella, cut into 1cm dice
small tin whole peeled tomatoes, drained but juice reserved
120ml Milk
pinch of salt
pinch of sugar
1½ tablespoons Pecorino Romano plus extra to serve
2tsp chopped fresh Parsley
150g linguine
knob of butter (about 10g)

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil - and I'll say again, "as salty as the sea"...

Meanwhile, drain the tinned tomatoes, chopping them up to release more juice, then reserve the juice and the tomatoes separately. 

In a sauté pan over a medium high heat, add the oil, garlic, red pepper flakes, and onion. Cook slowly for 5 - 10 minutes, stirring all the while.

Add the diced Mortadella and continue to sauté, stirring, over medium high heat for approximately 5 - 7 minutes until the Mortadella pieces start to brown.

Add the chopped tomato and continue to sauté for a further 2 minutes. Then add the reserved tomato juices and reduce the heat slightly to simmer for 2 - 3 minutes. Add the milk and continue to simmer for about 15 - 20 more minutes.

Taste for salt and sugar, then add both to taste (the amounts listed above are a guideline). Stir well and simmer for 2 -3 more minutes.

When the sauce is ready stir in the pecorino and parsley.

The pasta should be cooked according to the instructions on the packet then drained and added to the pan with the sauce.  Stir through so that the pasta is well coated.

Serve immediately and sprinkle with more fresh parsley and also more cheese if you like.

I subsequently did another version of this, the second time I melted in some Nduja, added some chopped sage and oregano and also some wine and didn't bother separating the tomatoes from their juice. Subtly different and just as good.

Potato Sformato with Mortadella & Mozzarella
Serves 2 greedy gluttons (ahem)

550g potato, peeled and chopped into chunks
65g mortadella, cut into (¼ dice)
115g buffalo mozzarella, cut into ½ in dice
130ml warm milk
lightly beaten egg

sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
butter, diced
1 tbsp parmesan reggiano

Preheat the oven to 180° & lightly butter a baking dish. Bring the potatoes to the boil in a saucepan of salted water and cook until tender (about 12 mins) then drain well.

Mash the potatoes, stirring in the milk and season well with salt and pepper.

Fold in the mortadella and mozzarella, and when combined stir in the beaten egg. Spread the potato mixture  in the prepared baking dish. 

Dot the top with the butter cubes then sprinkle with the parmesan and bake in the top of the oven for about 30 mins until bubbling.  Finally pop under the grill for about 2 minutes until burnished on top. 

Let rest for a few minutes before serving with a mixed leaf salad topped with pickled green chillis.

While cooking this and as I had a little mozzarella left over so made myself a little antipasti with that, lovely ripe and fragrant tomatoes and some torn basil.  Sprinkled with some sea salt & freshly ground black pepper and scooped it up with a teaspoon.  

My, even if I say so myself, amazing Ragu

Serves 2

(I say serves 2 but it's well worth at least doubling and freezing or refrigerating half for another day as it will only improve)

25g butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
35 g cubed mortadella (or pancetta, or even streaky bacon)
125g minced beef
125g minced pork
1 fat clove of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
½ star anise
1 carrot, peeled and finely chopped
1 stick of celery finely chopped (d-rib with a peeler if needs be)
1 bayleaf
50g mushrooms, finely chopped
100ml good dry white wine
1 teaspoon tomato purée (optional)
salt and freshly ground black pepper
freshly ground nutmeg
375g tinned tomatoes (or pasatta)
75ml whole milk
sage & rosemary, finely chopped

Pre-heat the oven to 80C. Heat the oil and butter in an oven proof sauté pan and cook the mortadella for about 5 minutes.

Add the onion, garlic, bay and star anise, and cook on a low heat for half an hour (or until caramel & soft - at leats 20 minutes), tucking the bay leaf in.

Add the carrots & cook for a further 20 minutes.

Add the celery & mushrooms & cook for 10 minutes more.

Add the minced meat - break up & press down and leave for at least 3-4 mins until browned. Then turn and mix up and leave to brown again for a further 3 or so minutes.

Season generously, add the milk, then grate over a little nutmeg and cook very gently for at least a further half an hour, until the milk has just about disappeared.

Add the wine and, puree (if using) & tomatoes. Let simmer for 5-10 minutes then transfer the pan to the oven, cover, leaving the lid slightly ajar, and cook for at least 2 hours (you can leave on the hob under a very low heat if you wish - use a simmer mat).

Add some butter when the ragu is ready before mixing in some freshly cooked pasta (about 75g dried per person).

Serve with freshly cooked tagliatelle and sprinkle with freshly grated parmesan, if desired, but apparently purists like their ragu without (nutters!).

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Nduja?

To me that seems like an obvious start to a bad joke.. along the lines of "Nduja? No she went of her own accord..." but I couldn't think of a suitable punchline. But anyway.

The pic by the way is of my parcels of yumminess brought back from Volpetti, Rome - I strongly urge anyone who visits Rome to check it out, the address can be found on the previous post: an amazing deli staffed by lovely guys who really know their stuff. Just try not to spend as much as I did.

So, included in the parcel was a hunk of Nduja (en-doo-ya), a soft & very spicy Calabrian salami that is absolutely delicious simply smeared on toast but that also calls out for inclusion in a rich tomato based pasta sauce.  It also goes well with other pork based dishes.  A griddled pork chop being a case in point.

What follows are a couple of the recipes I used it in - 2 variations-on-a-theme pasta dishes and a Nduja topped pork steak.  And very delicious (if I say so myself) they all were.


Pici with Nduja sauce
Serves 2

1 banana shallot, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
2 tbsp Nduja
Small tin of chopped tomatoes
½ small glass of red wine (drink the rest while cooking)
½ tsp red wine vinegar
handful parsley, chopped
Sugar to taste
150g pici (or short pasta of choice)
Sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
2 tbsp Pecorino Romano

Sauté the shallots over a low heat slowly in olive oil until translucent & soft.  About 15 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another 5 minutes.

Add the wine, letting the alcohol boil off and then add the tomatoes. Crush the tomatoes further with the back of a wooden spoon and simmer for at least 20 minutes adding salt & pepper, a dash of sugar and ½ tsp of red wine vinegar.

In a separate pan, about half way through the simmering time, bring generously salted water ("as salty as the sea") to the boil & cook the pasta according to the instructions..

Add the nduja to sauce and stir allowing it to melt into the sauce.  

When the pasta is cooked al dente, add 2 tbsps of the pasta cooking water to the sauce. Drain the pasta, tip into the sauce and mix well. 

Stir in the parsley & half of the pecorino. Serve with the remaining pecorino sprinkled over.

Conchiglie with Nduja & tenderstem broccoli

Serves 2

2 tsp olive oil

50g cooking chorizo, chopped into small pieces
Small onion, finely chopped

1 lge garlic clove, thinly sliced

Handful of cherry tomatoes, cut into quarters
15g semi dried tomatoes

100ml white wine

75g tenderstem broccoli

2 tbsp nduja
200g wholewheat conchigle

Parsley to serve

Pecorino Romano or parmesan to serve

Heat some oil in a large sauté pan, big enough to eventually hold the drained, cooked pasta.

Add the onion and chorizo, cook gently over a low flame until the onion is soft and translucent and the chorizo is turning the oil a fragrant red. Add the garlic, and cook for a further minute or two. 

Tip in the chopped fresh and semi dried tomatoes and cook for a couple of minutes more before adding the wine.

Let this simmer and in the meantime bring a large pan of salted water to the boil. Add the pasta and after about five minutes the broccoli (I think the broccoli in this case does well by being well cooked).

Just before the pasta is ready add the Nduja to the pasta sauce, again stirring so it melts into the sauce.

Drain the pasta and broccoli, adding a little of the pasta water to the sauce to loosen a bit. Tip the pasta and broccoli into the sauce and stir through gently.

Serve, sprinkled with the fresh parsley and a little pecorino.

Pork steaks with Nduja & honey

Serves 2

This was apparently originally on the menu at a restaurant called The Purple Pig in Chicago which has recently been named as one of the top new restaurants in US and has variously described as a gastropub, a “European” restaurant, a Mediterranean resttaurant and a winebar. It doesn’t seem to me to fit any of those titles particularly but I do like their own tagline of “cheese, swine & wine”.

This recipe also calls for brining the pork which I've not really seen outside of US recipes but I thought I'd give it a go. The meat was perhaps a little moister but in all honesty I'm not convinced it made a huge amount of difference and could probably be omitted if you can't be bothered.

350ml water
2 tbsps coarse salt
1 tbsp sugar
2 pork shoulder steaks
1 tsp olive oil
65g nduja (the original recipe called for this to be cut into very thin slices and I say “eh?”)
1 tbsp + 2 tsp honey

Combine the water, salt & sugar in a dish large enough to hold the steaks & stir until the salt and sugar dissolve. Place the pork steaks in the brine in the dish. Cover and chill for 2-4 hours.

Remove the pork steaks from brine and wipe dry. Rub the oil onto both sides of the steaks & sprinkle with coarse salt and pepper.

Heat a griddle over a medium-high heat until almost smoking. Place the steaks on the griddle and cook for 3 minutes. Turn the steaks over and immediately top each with the nduja, dividing it equally between the two. If the steaks are thick then clearly they will need a longer cooking time.

Cook until the pork is cooked through, about 3 minutes longer and then spoon ½ tbsp of honey over each.

Transfer the pork steaks, nduja side down to warmed plates then sprinkle a tsp of honey over the topsides of them. Serve with parsley jersey royals & a mixed salad.

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