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Culurgiones
Ogliastra, Sardinia, Italy
Sardinia's most beautifully crafted pasta: each one hand-pleated into the shape of a wheat ear, with a tight twisted seam running down the top. The filling is a Sardinian autobiography in a single bite: floury local potatoes, sharp aged pecorino sardo, sheep's-milk fresh cheese, garlic confit in olive oil, and a stunning amount of fresh mint that cuts through the richness with an almost medicinal coolness. Originating in the mountainous Ogliastra region on Sardinia's wild eastern coast, the dish was traditionally made for All Souls' Day and feast days, the spiral pleat meant to symbolize the harvest. The pleating is so technically demanding that Sardinian grandmothers still gather in village kitchens to make them collectively, and many young Sardinians learn the fold as a rite of passage. Served simply, with sage-butter or a thin tomato sauce, never enough to mask the filling or the pleat itself.
Ingredients
- 200 g00 flour
- 100 gfine semolina
- 130 mlwarm water
- 1 tspsalt
- 600 gstarchy potatoes (peeled)
- 150 gaged pecorino sardo (finely grated)
- 100 gfresh sheep cheese or whole-milk ricotta
- 30 gfresh mint leaves (finely chopped)
- 2 clovesgarlic (finely grated)
- 3 tbspextra-virgin olive oil
- 400 gtomato passata
Directions
- 1
Combine the flours and salt in a bowl; drizzle in the warm water and knead 8 minutes into a smooth, elastic dough. Wrap and rest 30 minutes.
- 2
Boil the potatoes whole in salted water until tender, about 25 minutes; peel while warm and pass through a ricer.
- 3
Fold the pecorino, fresh cheese, mint, garlic, and olive oil into the riced potato; season with salt and cool to room temperature.
- 4
Roll the dough to 1.5 mm thick and cut into 8 cm rounds.
- 5
Place a heaped teaspoon of filling on each round; with the seam facing up, pinch and fold the edge in alternating left-right pleats down its length, sealing into a wheat-ear shape.
- 6
Bring a large pot of salted water to a gentle simmer; cook the culurgiones 4 to 5 minutes until they float and the dough is tender.
- 7
Warm the passata with a pinch of salt and a drizzle of olive oil; lift the pasta directly into the sauce and toss gently.
- 8
Serve immediately, finished with grated pecorino and a few torn mint leaves.