Known around the world, a dish that writes the culinary history of Sardinia: culurgiones
The time has come to feast your eyes, and your palate, on the Sardinians’ most beloved first course Culurgiones. A stuffed pasta that has rightfully entered the Official Journal of the European Union L 262 of September 29, 2016, in which the name Culurgionis d’Ogliastra PGI (Protected Geographical Indication). Important achievement for a unique product whose story fascinates like a grandparent’s tale to grandchildren in front of the fire on a cold winter evening.
An ancient document tells, as early as the early 19th century, of the presence of Culurgiones within a list of Sardinian dishes, along with zippole and vin cotto bread.
Tradition sees Culurgiones as a ” luxury ” dish prepared at the most important events, especially for the All Saints’ Day feast. Other sources attribute to culurgiones an amulet function against mourning and the evil eye and to propitiate the grain harvest, in fact the particular “spighitta” shape does not escape.
Culurgiones recipe
Providing only one recipe would be limiting; putting aside for a moment the countless variations that have sprung up in modern cuisine, such as culurgiones with squid ink, with shrimp stuffing, and the other thousands of ideas that the imagination of modern chefs produces, we want to focus on the most classic recipe, the one that has written the history of this dish in Sardinia, Italy, and the World.
Culurgiones is a pasta made from durum wheat semolina, with potato and pecorino cheese and mint filling inside.
Let’s look in detail at ingredients and preparation.
Pasta
- 250 g of durum wheat semolina
- 50 g of flour
- 2-3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
- 150 ml of lukewarm water
- q.b. salt
Stuffing:
- 500 g of potatoes
- 100 g fresh Sardinian pecorino cheese
- 2 cloves of garlic
- q.b. extra virgin olive oil
- q.b. of mint
- q.b. salt
- q.b. black pepper
Preparation:
Beginning with the puff pastry, the dough is made from flour and semolina plus the addition of 2-3 tablespoons of extra virgin oil in a bowl, adding warm water little by little. When finished, let the resulting mixture rest for about half an hour.
Let us now look at the filling. Boil the potatoes. When they are cooked, remove the skins and mash them until they form a classic puree.
In a frying pan, sauté garlic with a little oil and let it turn golden.
Assemble the mashed potatoes (which have cooled in the meantime) with the freshly sautéed oil and garlic, adding the pecorino cheese and chopped mint. Mix everything thoroughly, adding salt and pepper as needed.
Let’s take the dough to create the sheet and roll it out with a rolling pin, respecting tradition, or getting help from modern machines. It is important that the dough is thin and at the same time sturdy. At this point with a small form, or with a glass, we create circles of 7-8 centimeters in diameter, place the filling inside and close by gently pinching the edges until we obtain the classic ” spighitta“. A few minutes in previously boiling and salted water is sufficient for cooking. Trick to know when Culurgione is cooked is when it rises to the surface, basically 5 minutes is the right time.