The
bottarga
By
the end of summer and the beginning of Autumn the fishermen go by sea to
fish mullets. They fish only the females, the bigger ones, to open their
stomach and pull out the egg bags: this is how you start preparing "bottarga".
The egg bags, once salted, are hung up to the air for a long dry out, one
they are mature they become a dark orange colour and one of the most
delicious specialities of the island.
The most productive areas are : the Gulf of Cagliari, Sarrabus, Ogliastra
and the area around Oristano.
It can be sliced and covered with a little olive oil and black pepper,
depending on tastes, or sliced with little slices of celery and some olive
oil and served as an hors d'oeuvre.
It can also be grated on the plain spaghetti, with a little butter and the
bottarga sprinkled over them.
Malloreddus
alla campidanese
(sardinian small dumplings made of semolina pasta or potato)
Ingredients for 6 people:
1/2 kg of malloreddus
gr 300 of Sardinian sausage
1 kg pealed tomatoes
1 clove of garlic
2 sachets of saffron
1 leaf of laurel
a few leaves of basil
2 table spoons of good olive oil
grated pecorino cheese
a pinch of salt (as the Italians say)
Preparation
Cut into dices the sausage and brown it in the oil, take it out of the pan
when cooked and put in the garlic, tomatoes, salt and saffron, the laurel
and the basil and cook them all at low fire. When the sauce has thicken
add the sausage and let it all cook an other little bit.
Cook in plenty salty water the malloreddus, by taste you will know when
they are ready, drain them and add the above sauce with a lot of pecorino
cheese grated on top.
Spaghetti
with bottarga
Ingredients for 6 people:
500 gr of spaghetti
1 clove of garlic
1 little red chilly pepper
extra virgin olive oil
100 gr of grated bottarga
a pinch of salt (as the Italians say)
Preparation
In a high edged pan put the oil, the garlic and the chilly pepper and
brown them. In the mean time cook the spaghetti in plenty salty water,
when it boils wait till they taste nearly right and drain them. Put them
into the pan with the oil, garlic etc. and have them cook for about 5
extra minutes, after having spread the bottarga overt them and mix it all
continuously. Help them not to dry out while cooking pouring some of the
cooking water used to boil the spaghetti. To be Served immediately out of
the pan.
Myrtle
liqueur
Ingredients:
300 gr of Myirtle berries
150 gr of sugar
30 cl of 90 degree alcool
30 cl of water
Preparation
Put the Myrtle berries, after having carefully washed them, into a big
glass pot, and cover them with the alcool. Close the pot. Refill the
alcool to keep them covered for a month.
After such time or even more, filter the berries carefully without
squeezing them too strongly. The essence obtained goes into a dark glass
bottle.
Prepare a syrup made with water and sugar, when cold add it to the Myrtle
essence and let it rest for an other month. Finally your liqueur will be
ready and you can drink it.
If the quantity of alcool or sugar aren't right for you just add whichever
ingredient you need to meet your taste: water (when the alcool or sugar
are too strong), sugar or alcool.
Vegetable
Panada
Ingredients for 6 people:
7 hectograms of flour
1 a knob of lard
mixed season vegetables salt
Preparation
Put the lard into the flour and mix it gradually adding the salt and some
warm water till the pastry achieves a medium consistency. Lay it out with
a rolling pin, the pastry must be about ½ cm. high. Prepare 2 layers,
then lay 1 of them into a greased (with oil) baking tin.
A part, cut into pieces all the vegetables (better if you have potatoes,
courgettes, carrots, peas, aubergines, onions and string beans) brown them
in a little oil and tomato sauce. As soon as they are all cooked pour the
vegetables into the tin with the pastry and cover it with an other layer
of pastry, like you would do with a pie.
Put it into the oven for about half an hour at a medium temperature
(150°).
Zippulas
(
a particular kind of doughnut)
Ingredients for 6 people:
500 g of white flour; 100 g of cottage cheese; 50 g of sugar; 30 g of
brewer's yeast; 2 eggs; 2 potatoes; 3 table spoons of grappa (rough,
strong brandy); 2 packets of icing sugar; 1 orange; ½ a lemon; ½ little
packet of saffron; enough frying oil to fry; salt
Preparation
Wash the potatoes and put them on to boil, once there are cooked peel them
and mash them while they are still warm, mix them up with the cottage
cheese. Add the eggs, the sugar and grate the lemon skin into it. Filter
the orange juice into it and add the grappa.
Keep on mixing everything in; warm up a little milk and melt the brewer's
yeast into it, then pour it into the mixture gradually adding the white
flour. When all the ingredients are well mixed in make it into a ball,
wrap it with a cloth and let it rest for about half an hour, even more if
the environment is quite cold, until it doubles its size.
Wet your hands and make the pastry into little balls with a hole in the
centre. Put plentiful oil in a frying pan on to heat and when ready dump
the doughnuts into it to fry; only few at a time, until they brown, then
take them out with a wooden spoon and put them on some blotting paper to
dry and then sprinkle with the icing sugar.
|
