Tag: Pasta

PESCE SALATO (Salted Fish in Sicily)and BOTTARGA revisited

Richard Cornish’s first article this year in his Brain Food column is on Bottarga (The Age, January 25 issue, 2022).

What a great start!

He says that we love bottarga because it has the power to enrich and enhance dishes, much the same way as Parmesan cheese  improves pasta and jamon makes everything more delicious.  I always think of anchovies and how widely they are used not just in Sicilian cooking but in Italian cooking  generally an how much they enrich the taste of many dishes.

The bottarga that Richard is writing about is Bottarga di Muggine:  ‘the salted, processed and sun-dried mullet roe that is pale orange to yellow in colour.”

Having roots in Sicily, I am more accustomed with Bottarga di Tonno, made from tuna. In comparison to the mullet roe,  bottarga  from tuna can be darker in colour and more pungent in taste.

I bought this  lump of bottarga (in the photo below) from Enoteca Sileno in Melbourne. Mullet bottarga is easier to find.

In Sicily bottarga has been used for millennia and is only one of many parts of the tuna that is salted.

Many years ago, when bottarga would have been next to impossible to purchase in Australia, I purchased many packets of plastic wrapped bottarga  and various salted parts or the tuna from a vendor in the Market in Syracuse who specialised in salted and dried fish. I brought them back to Australia in my suitcase. I declared them, but because they were sealed securely  I was cleared through customs.

In my book Sicilian Seafood Cooking, I begin the section of the book PESCE SALATO (Salted Fish) by saying:

Salted fish has been greatly valued and an important industry in Sicily. During medieval times the standard Lenten diet was based on pulses and dried salted fish. Still popular in Sicily, salted fish were popular with the ancient Romans. Anchovies, which still flavour many dishes, probably replaced the gurum used widely by ancient Romans.

Gurum was made by crushing and fermenting fish innards. It was very popular during Roman times, an import from the Greeks. It was a seasoning preferred to salt and added to other ingredients like vinegar, wine, oil and pepper to make a condiment used for meat, fish and vegetables – much like the fish sauce used in some Asian cuisines.

Two early cookery books, The Art of Cooking: The First Modern Cookery Book by Martino of Como and On Right Pleasure and Good Health by Platina, praise the taste and quality of salted tuna (particularly the middle section of tuna called tarantellum or terantello). Salted tuna (sometimes called mosciam in Sicily) was introduced by the Arabs (who called it muscamma) in about the 10th century. It has firm, deep red-brown flesh that needs only paper-thin slicing and is mainly eaten softened in oil with a sprinkling of lemon juice.

Salted tuna is also produced in southern Spain; they refer to it as air-dried tuna or sun-dried tuna and Mojama tuna.

Bottarga (called buttarica or buttarga in Sicilian) are the eggs in the ovary sacs of female tuna. These are pressed into a solid mass, salted and processed. The name bottarga is thought to have evolved from the Arabic buarikh or butarah – raw fish eggs, once made made by dipping the sac in beeswax and leaving it to dry. Making bottarga is a much more complicated process now and is only produced in Favignana. It is grated to flavour dishes, or sliced finely and eaten as an antipasto.

I have eaten bottarga mainly grated over pasta dishes and eggplant caponata, but in Syracuse I enjoyed baked eggplant stuffed with seafood and topped with grated bottarga.

Richard Cornish says :

‘Grated bottarga is sensational over buttered pasta. You need nothing other than a glass of wine to complete the dish. Try it grated over spaghetti with tomatoes and a little chilli, or on hot flatbread drizzled with oil as an aperitivo. Make a delicious salad of finely sliced fennel and radicchio topped with bottarga. Grate bottarga into aioli to make a dressing for a Caesar salad. Make softly scrambled eggs, grate over 50g of bottarga and enjoy on hot buttered sourdough’.

Sounds good and I am looking forward to trying some of these.

I have a post on my blog  for  the recipe:

PASTA CON BOTTARGA ( Pasta with Grated Bottarga)

PASTA ALLA NORMA and a variation (Pasta with tomato salsa and fried eggplants; and currants, anchovies and bottarga) …photo, as eaten on the coast near Agrigento.

PASTA con cavolofiore, salsicce di maiale e ceci (pasta with cauliflower, pork sausages and chickpeas)

Pasta with cauliflower, pork fennel sausages, chickpeas,  fennel seeds, fresh bay leaves, saffron and marinated feta is one simple dish that I prepared for friends during a very busy time of year.

Not all the food has been elaborate or take a long time to cook and can tastes just as delicious. All the ingredients are easily found, and this too makes a difference to one’s sanity.

Short pasta is preferable and I used penne. Pecorino, being a stronger tasting cheese is better with these ingredients than Parmesan, but although feta is not an Italian cheese I often use it as a topping for pasta .

This pasta dish is simple to make.

Begin with sausages (out of casings) and onion sautéed in a little extra virgin olive oil.

Soak a big pinch of  saffron in a little water and set aside.

To the sautéed sausages add cauliflower, separated into smaller pieces,  fennel seeds and fresh bay leaves and toss around in the hot oil.  Add the saffron (that  has been soaking in a little water).

Add chickpeas and a little chickpea stock, cover and cook on moderate to gentle heat.

Combine it with cooked pasta and top with the feta. The feta will soften and will make  the pasta more creamy.

 

MARINADED FETA

Marinated feta comes in handy for nibbles as well as using it as a creamy substitute for grated cheese.  Like marinated olives, capers and preserved lemons, this is something that is nearly always in my fridge. and believe you me, it comes in very handy.

Ingredients: feta, dry oregano, fennel seeds, whole black peppercorns, bay leaves  and extra virgin olive oil. The cheese must be  totally submerged. Store it in the fridge.

 

EMIGLIA ROMAGNA and their love of stuffed pasta

In a restaurant in Modena we met a beautiful elderly woman who was the mother of one of the three chefs of a fabulous restaurant in Modena and her daughter is the owner. It is often the case that mothers and skilled mature women are responsible for making stuffed pasta in restaurants. They are after all very skilled and practised  in this area having made it over many years at home.

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La signora comes the restaurant each morning to make the stuffed pasta –  tortellini  and tortelloni (the squares of pasta are cut much bigger). Both are closed and folded in the shape of a navel. The traditional fillings are usually made with ricotta, spinach and Parmigiano Reggiano and covered with a melted browned butter and sage dressing.

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In Bologna the stuffing the for tortelli and tortelloni is likely to be made of prosciutto, mortadella, roast veal and Parmesan.

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More often than not, stuffed pasta is dressed with a ragù….today one of us had a ragù  made with a mixture of …selvaggina, wild meats – boar, rabbit, maybe pheasant.

Tortelloni di Zucca have mashed cooked pumpkin filling. Nutmeg, crumbed amaretti and mostarda mantovana – pickled fruit in a sweet mustard syrup. I ate Tortelloni di Zucca in Ferrara. But you may be surprised to know that in Ferrara they called these Capellacci….little hats…..Capelletti like tortellini, are the smaller version and these are usually cooked in broth (brodo).

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And there are Ravioli.

The pasta for all stuffed pasta can be white (egg, flour and water) or can be green (spinach).

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In a restaurant in Bologna we ate ravioli stuffed with ricotta and spinach but in a restaurant in San Giovanni in Marignano the variation in the stuffing was ricotta and marjoram and the dressing was made with asparagus. It is after all spring in Italy, even if it is raining now in Bologna.

 

PASTA with ‘NDUJA, CIME DI RAPA and PORK SAUSAGES

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‘Nduja is a good ingredient to have in one’s fridge to liven many recipes, especially pasta dishes.

I have been away from home recently, and what I really enjoy is coming up with a dish using ingredients that I have at home and need to be used. This must be one of the reasons I enjoy camping and we always eat so well.

INGREDIENTS

I had ‘nduja (a soft chilli-laden, soft salame from Calabria), a bunch of cime di rapa or rape (rape is plural of rapa) and some small and fabulous, pure pork sausages that I had cooked in some tomato salsa the day before. We had eaten most of these with polenta and these were left over.

PROCESS

What I did was simple. I braised the cime di rapa  in some garlic and extra virgin olive oil as I do when I cook cime di rapa with pasta.  Once cooked, I added the ‘nduja….probably too much, I love chilli but do others like it as much as I do? I could have used a half of the quantity and it still would have tasted great. The ‘nduja melts with the heat and coats the vegetables.

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Next, I added the sausages and a small amount of tomato salsa. My mother often reminded me that I was making a pasta sauce rather than a soup, so I required only a small quantity of liquid.

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I had rigatoni on hand, and some Sicilian pecorino pepato.

You will need to accept that it tasted vey good. So much so that I did not have time to take a photo of the finished pasta dish – it was gobbled up far too quickly by my two guests.

There are recipes for cooking with ‘nduja:

‘NDUJA, a spreadable and spicy pork salame from Calabria

SPAGHETTI with ‘NDUJA, SQUID, VONGOLE AND PAN GRATTATO

‘NDUJA and CALAMARI as a pasta sauce

’Nduja with squid

 

PASTA CON LE SARDE, Iconic Sicilian made easy

An important ingredient for making Pasta con le sarde is wild fennel. The season for wild fennel has well and truly passed and all you will find at this time of year are stalky plants, yellow flowers/ seed pods and no green fronds.

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What we call Florentine fennel is also going out of season and you will find  for sale specimens with very small stunted bulbs. If you are lucky, your greengrocer may sell them with long stalks and fronds attached – perfect to use as a substitute for wild fennel and I certainly would not go near these stunted specimens otherwise.

Sardine fillets are easy to find. I use the paper that my fishmonger has wrapped the sardines to wipe dry the fish.

Remove the small dorsal spine from the fillets. Once again the paper comes in handy to wipe fishy fingers.

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Prepare the ingredients:

Sardine fillets, chopped spring onions, the softer green fonds of the fennel, saffron soaking in a little water, currants soaking in a little water, fennel bulb cut finely, toasted pine nuts and chopped toasted almonds, salt and ground black pepper (or ground chili).

The preferred pasta shape are bucatini, but spaghetti or casarecce are good also.

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You will also need some breadcrumbs (made from good quality day- old bread) toasted in a pan with a little oil. Add a bit of sugar, some cinnamon and grated lemon peel. toss it around in the pan so that the sugar melts and the flavours are mixed. This is the topping for the pasta. I have seen this referred to as pan grattato – this would not be my preferred tag – in Italian pan grattato is the term for breadcrumbs, but I accept that over time the terminology has evolved. The traditional Sicilian breadcrumb topping would not have had/ does not have the cinnamon or grated lemon peel.

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The larger fennel fronds and stalks are used to flavour the water for the cooking of the pasta. Place them into salted cold water, bring to the boil and simmer for at least 10 minutes – you can leave the fennel in water as long as you like. The greenery  can easily be fished out with tongs before the pasta goes into the boiling water to cook.

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And  then it is a very simple matter of cooking the ingredients.

Sauté  the spring onion in some extra virgin olive oil.  Add the fennel and chopped fronds and sauté them some more.

Depending on the quality of the fennel (degree of succulence) you may need to add a splash of water or white wine, cover it and continue to cook it for a few minutes more.

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Add salt and pepper and put the sautéed vegetables aside.

Cook the pasta.

Fry the sardines in a little extra virgin olive oil  – they will cook very quickly and begin to break up. Combine the sardines with the cooked fennel, add saffron and  drained currants and mix to amalgamate the flavours. Add the almonds and pine nuts.

Dress the cooked pasta with the sardine sauce.

Put the dressed pasta in a serving platter and sprinkle liberally with the toasted breadcrumbs  – these add flavour and crunch to the dish.

For a more conventional Sicilian Pasta con le Sarde:

PASTA CON LE SARDE, an iconic Sicilian recipe from Palermo. Cooked at Slow Food Festival Melbourne

PASTA CON SARDE – the baked version, Palermo, Sicily

PASTA WITH BREADCRUMBS, anchovies and fennel (Pasta cca muddica)

PASTA CON FINOCCHIO (Pasta and fennel – preferably wild)

DUCK AND MUSHROOM RAGÙ

A duck ragù is nothing new, but it always seems to be special. Pappardelle is the pasta of choice for game and duck.

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I bought a whole duck, dismembered it and trimmed away the obvious fat. I cooked the duck for the ragù over 2 days because ducks can be very fatty and I wanted to remove some of the fat.

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I left the cooked duck overnight and the liquid jellied (in the meantime the flavours also intensified) and the fat rose to the top making it easier for me to remove most of I with a spoon. I used some of the duck fat to sauté the mushrooms.

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1 duck
for the soffritto: 1 onion, 1 carrot,1 stalk of celery
fresh rosemary, bay leaves
½ cup of diced tomatoes or 2 tablespoons of tomato paste
2 cups dry red wine
3 cups chicken stock
salt and black pepper
250g mushrooms…on this occasion I used brown mushrooms.
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
fresh thyme and parsley

Wipe the duck pieces to dry them as much as possible.

Heat a heavy based casserole and over medium heat add the duck skin-side down and fry until browned and fat renders (6-9 minutes).

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Drain most of the fat. Turn and fry until browned (2-3 minutes), then set aside.

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To the same saucepan add onion and soften slightly before adding the carrot and celery and sauté until vegetables are tender (5-8 minutes).

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Return the duck pieces to the pan, add the wine, stock, tomatoes, seasoning, bay leaves and rosemary.

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Cover and cook slowly for about 1¾-2¼ hours, until the meat looks as it will be easy to separate from the bones.

Leave to cool. The fat will rise to the top making it easier to remove.

Reheat the duck braise very briefly, just sufficiently to melt the jelly.

Remove the duck pieces and set aside. When they are cool enough to handle remove the the skin and strip the meat from the bones in chunks. Discard herbs and the bones.

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Drain the solids from the liquid and add these to the duck. Place the liquid from the braise (i.e. that is yet to be reduced) in a separate container.

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Wipe the pan and use some of the fat to sauté the mushrooms and garlic. Add parsley and thyme and some seasoning.

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Deglaze the pan using about a cup of liquid and evaporate most of it. Repeat with the left over liquid until it has reduced.

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Add the duck, a couple of twists of nutmeg and the ragù is ready.

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Combine the cooked pasta with the duck ragù and serve.

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Pasta: I used egg Pappardelle.

Grated Parmigiano on top.

See Pappardelle with hare:

PAPPARDELLE (Pasta with Hare or game ragù)

PAPPARDELLE Continued…..

A Sicilian recipe for Duck:

Anatra a paparedda cu l’ulivi (Sicilian Duck with green olives and anchovies)

‘NDUJA and CALAMARI as a pasta sauce

‘Nduja is a spicy, spreadable, pork salame originating from Calabria and is appearing on just as many menus and recipes as chorizo as an ingredient.

Chorizo and ’nduja do play similar culinary roles — adding heat, depth, richness and a lovely red hue to dishes — but they come from different traditions and behave differently in cooking. Here’s what they have in common:

What chorizo and ’nduja share

1. Pork-based, chilli-driven cured products

Both are made primarily from pork, and both rely on chilli for flavour, colour and gentle (or not-so-gentle!) heat.

2. Paprika/pepper–rich seasoning

Spanish chorizo uses pimentón (sweet, hot, or smoked paprika), while Calabrian ’nduja uses peperoncino.
Different chillies, but both produce: a deep brick-red colour, a smoky or fruity heat, a rich aroma when heated.

3. High-fat mixtures that melt beautifully

Both rely on a good amount of pork fat: Chorizo releases seasoned fat when cooked, ’Nduja essentially is a spicy, spreadable fat
Either way, they enrich sauces, soups and braises.

4. Versatile “flavour builders”

In cooking, both act almost like a seasoning: Melt into pasta sauces, Flavour beans, lentils, stews,Work with seafood (especially prawns, mussels, cuttlefish), Pair well with potatoes, eggs, and greens.

5. Traditional, regional farmhouse products

Both originate as rustic, home-cured, regional foods: Chorizo: Spain (with Portuguese chouriço as a cousin), ’Nduja: Calabria, especially Spilinga.

Each reflects local ingredients — paprika in Iberia, peperoncino in Calabria.

The main difference is texture: chorizo is firm and sliceable, while ’nduja is soft, spreadable and melts almost instantly into sauces. Chorizo gives you bites of seasoned meat; ’nduja gives you a silky, smoky warmth that flavours a whole dish. Different personalities, but the same family — and both guaranteed to make food taste bigger, bolder and more interesting.

Chorizo is a firm, sliceable sausage, while ’nduja is a soft, spreadable, intensely spicy fermented paste — but both deliver pork, chilli and smoky depth to whatever you cook and both guaranteed to make food taste bigger, bolder and more interesting.

A recipe for Calamari and ‘Nduja or chorizo

 CALABRIA and INTRODUCTION

Calabria, the rugged toe of Italy’s boot, has always been defined by the sea. With nearly 780 kilometres of coastline — from the Tyrrhenian to the Ionian — the region’s cooking draws deeply on fishing, preserving, and coastal trade that have shaped Calabrian life for more than two thousand years.

Along the coasts, small fishing villages such as Scilla, Pizzo, Tropea, Soverato, and Chianalea lived by the catch: swordfish, anchovies, sardines, octopus, calamari, prawns, and mussels. Much of this seafood was eaten fresh, but equally important were the ancient preserving traditions — salting, drying, fermenting, and bottling — which allowed communities to survive winter scarcity and seasonal storms. Calabrians became masters of stretching simple ingredients into deeply flavoured dishes.

Throughout history, Calabria sat on key Mediterranean trade routes. Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, and Spanish brought spices, citrus, wheat, and new techniques. The most revolutionary arrival was the chilli pepper, introduced from the Americas in the 16th century. Calabrians adopted it with enthusiasm, using it to season and preserve everything from seafood to pork. Over time it became a defining flavour of the region, giving birth to iconic foods such as ’nduja, the fiery, spreadable salume of Spilinga, often combined with seafood to create rich, coastal dishes full of heat and depth.

Seafood today remains central to Calabrian cooking. Families still prepare traditional dishes such as Calamari with ‘nduja.

If you don’t have ’nduja on hand, Spanish chorizo makes an excellent alternative. It brings the same paprika-rich warmth and savoury depth, just with a firmer texture. Either way, this dish is quick, rustic, and full of personality — the kind of simple coastal cooking you’d find in a trattoria overlooking the Tyrrhenian Sea.

CALABRESE Calamari with ’Nduja (or Chorizo) and Tomato

INGREDIENTS 

Calabrese Pasta with Calamari, ’Nduja & Tomato

Calamarata ’nduja e calamari — spicy, rich and deeply southern Italian.

Calamarata (sometimes misspelled calamata) is a short, thick, ring-shaped pasta that looks like slices of calamari(squid rings).
It is a traditional pasta shape from Campania, especially around Naples, but it is now popular throughout southern Italy — including Calabria — for pairing with seafood.

Ingredients (4 servings)

  • 400 g pasta
    Traditional: calamarata
    Alternatives: paccheri, mezze maniche, or spaghetti
  • 500–600 g calamari, cleaned and cut into rings (tentacles included)
  • 2–3 tsp ’nduja
    (Adjust depending on heat level and strength of your ’nduja) OR (or 100g chorizo, diced small)
  • 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 garlic cloves, sliced
  • 1 small red onion or shallot, finely chopped
  • 200–250 g cherry tomatoes, halved
    or 1 cup tomato passata
  • ½ glass dry white wine
  • 1 tbsp tomato paste (optional but deepens flavour)
  • Salt & freshly ground black pepper
  • Pinch of Calabrian peperoncino (optional extra heat)
  • Fresh parsley, chopped
  • Optional:
    • A few capers (very Calabrian)
    • Lemon zest

Method

  1. Prepare the calamari

Clean well, pat dry and cut into 1–1.5 cm rings.
Leave tentacles whole or halve them.

  1. Sauté the aromatics

Heat olive oil in a large sauté pan.
Add onion and cook gently until soft and translucent.
Add garlic and cook for another 30 seconds.

  1. Add the ’nduja or chorizo

    • If using ’nduja: let it melt into the onions, stirring until it becomes a rich red paste. If using chorizo: fry the diced pieces until they release their paprika-coloured oil into the onion mixture until you have a deep red, fragrant base.

  1. Add the calamari

Increase heat slightly and add the calamari.
Season lightly with salt and pepper.
Cook for 2–3 minutes until opaque.
Add the white wine and let it evaporate.

  1. Build the sauce Add:
  • tomatoes or passata
  • tomato paste (optional)
  • capers (if using)
  • a pinch of Calabrian chilli
  • Simmer gently for 20–25 minutes.

Calamari should be soft and tender, not rubbery.
Add a splash of water if the sauce thickens too much.

I have already written a post about ‘NDUJA and a recipe for ‘Nduja and Squid as a pasta sauce  – SPAGHETTI with ‘NDUJA, SQUID, VONGOLE AND PAN GRATTATO. If you enjoy spicy food, it is worth doing.

See vegetable: CIME DI RAPE

 

Gnocchetti Sardi dressed with a Tomato and a Pork Sausage Ragú and Differences between Ragú, Sugo and Salsa

Gnocchetti Sardi  —also known as Malloreddus —is one of Sardinia’s most beloved dishes, and recently a plate I enjoyed in Melbourne inspired me to recreate it at home.

This rustic, slow-cooked tomato and sausage sauce, scented with wild fennel and finished with Pecorino Sardo, captures the flavours of the island’s Campidano region. Made with simple semolina pasta, it’s a deeply satisfying dish with centuries of Sardinian history in every mouthful.

Malloreddus Campidanese is a dish that expresses everything Sardinians hold dear: semolina from their plains, pork from their farms, wild herbs from their hillsides, and pecorino from their flocks. It’s simple, honest, and deeply tied to the land.

A Taste of Sardinia and a Little Lesson on Ragù, Sugo and Salsa

Sardinia is rugged and ancient, with a cuisine shaped by isolation, pastoral traditions, and fierce pride in local ingredients. The food may seem simple at first glance, but every dish reflex a story—of shepherds, small villages, family tables, deeply rooted in land, heritage and centuries of tradition.

And few dishes express this better than malloreddus—the dimpled little pasta most of us know as Gnocchetti Sardi.

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Wild fennel sold in bunches in Markets,
Malloreddus Campidanese

I recently ate at a Sardinian restaurant in Melbourne and ordered a beautifully authentic plate of Malloreddus Campidanese—homemade semolina pasta shaped as little gnocchetti, with a slow-cooked sausage ragù scented with wild fennel, chilli and plenty of Sardinian pecorino.

I explored some of the ingredients and the centuries-old culinary customs behind this plate—and then recreate it at home.

Sardinia: A Rugged Island With an Ancient Kitchen

Sardinia (Sardegna) sits in the Mediterranean. Its history weaves together Nuragic civilisation, Phoenicians, Romans, Aragonese, and Piedmontese, yet the cuisine is remarkably its own.

For much of history, Sardinia was an island of shepherds and farmers, not fishermen as one might assume. Inland life shaped the cooking:

  • abundant sheep and goat, meat and milk, leading to distinctive cheeses like Pecorino Sardo and Fiore Sardo
  • pork as a cornerstone ingredient—fresh, cured, spiced, roasted
  • wild herbs, especially wild fennel, growing freely in fields and along roadsides
  • durum wheat semolina, used for breads, fregola, and pastas like malloreddus
Malloreddus (Gnocchetti Sardi)

Another name for malloreddus is Gnocchetti Sardi—tiny, ribbed shells shaped with one’s thumb and a ridged wooden tool. They’re made from: durum wheat semolina, water, salt and no eggs.

The dough is kneaded for quite a long time until elastic, rolled into ropes, cut into small pieces and pressed to create the characteristic grooves. Those grooves are essential—they hold just the right amount of sauce, especially a pork-based ragù.

The name malloreddus may come from malloru, meaning “small bull,” possibly because of the shape or because the pasta was once served at festivals celebrating the harvest and the cattle season.

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Commercial pasta called Gnocchetti Sardi 

The Campidano Region

This dish originates from the Campidano, the broad fertile plain stretching across central-southern Sardinia. Here, wheat, tomatoes and pork have long been staples.

Wild fennel grows freely in Sardegna, and its perfume—grassy, sweet, faintly anise-like—defines the local sausage (salsiccia sarda). Pecorino Sardo is the preferred grating cheese and adds the salty, tangy bite that completes the dish.

In Sardinia, food is rarely just food. It’s geography, community, memory, seasonality, and pride—especially in dishes like this.

Gnocchetti Sardi – Malloreddus Campidanese
Ragù, Sugo, Salsa: The Italian Vocabulary of Sauce

Food terminology in Italy is wonderfully precise (and passionately defended). Here’s how these words differ:

Ragù

A meat-based sauce, long-cooked and reduced so the flavours concentrate. The word comes from the French ragoût—a slow-cooked, hearty stew. A ragù can be made with beef, pork, veal, game, or a mixture. In Sardinia, pork is the star.

Ragùs are used to dress pasta, fregola, polenta or rice.

Sugo

Sugo is often used interchangeably with ragù, but usually refers to a sauce—often tomato-based—that may or may not contain meat.  Different regions of Italy prefer one term above the other, but generally a ragú is cooked on low heat for a long time and the flavours are concentrated.

Salsa

This is the more generic word for “sauce,” A simpler, quicker, often smoother sauce. A or salsa verde (herb sauce) or salsa di pomodoro is typically a pure tomato sauce cooked briefly, without meat or vegetables.

A Note on This Recipe

Because sausages cook relatively quickly, some cooks hesitate to call this a true ragù unless extra pork pieces are added for longer cooking. But the result—hearty, rich, aromatic—certainly behaves like one.

Sardinian-Style Pork Sausage

If you’ve ever tasted Sardinian sausage (salsiccia sarda), you’ll know why it’s so prized. Traditionally it’s: Coarse-minced, Lightly spiced with fennel seeds, Rich without being fatty, Smoky or air-dried, depending on the region

For a ragù, you want a fresh sausage that breaks down easily in the pan. The fennel adds sweetness and perfume, working perfectly with tomato. Even if you can’t source Sardinian sausage, choose one that isn’t overly seasoned—let the natural pork flavour shine.

This pasta—Malloreddus alla Campidanese—is considered one of Sardinia’s most iconic recipes.

It comes from the central-southern region of Campidano, where wheat, pork and tomatoes were everyday staples. It’s often served at festivals and family gatherings, usually finished with a generous snowdrift of Pecorino Sardo.

It’s comforting, deeply flavourful, and somehow both rustic and refined.

IN MY PANTRY

Malloreddus Campidanese is a dish that expresses everything Sardinians hold dear: semolina from their plains, pork from their farms, wild herbs from their hillsides, and pecorino from their flocks. It’s simple, honest, and deeply tied to the land.

I had some commercially bought Gnocchetti Sardi in my pantry. I also had crushed tomatoes. I bought some Italian pork sausages. I also know where to collect wild fennel, but if you purchase Italian pork and fennel sausages (and perhaps add a few fennel seeds) you will have similar results.

The dish is wonderfully straightforward to make. Whether you hand-roll the pasta or use a packet from your pantry, this is one of the most satisfying and evocative Italian dishes you can cook at home.

Recipe: Malloreddus (Gnocchetti Sardi) with Tomato, Pork Sausage & Wild Fennel
Ingredients (Serves 4)
  • 6 Italian pork sausages (plain or pork-and-fennel; hot or mild)
  • 1 onion, finely chopped
  • ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
  • ½ cup dry red wine
  • 800 g crushed tomatoes
  • 2 whole garlic cloves
  • Salt and crushed chilli flakes (or black pepper)
  • Wild fennel sprigs or ½ tsp fennel seeds
  • Fresh basil (optional)
  • 400 g Gnocchetti Sardi (100 g per person)
  • Pecorino Sardo or Pecorino Pepato, grated

*If you are unable to find Pecorino Sardo, use Pecorino (of good quality). I sometimes use Pecorino Pepato (has pepper corns in it) and fits in with the rustic character of the dish.

Method

Prepare the base
Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan. Add the chopped onion and soften slowly over moderate heat.

Cook the sausage
Remove the casings from the sausages and crumble the meat into small pieces. Add to the pan and brown thoroughly.

Deglaze
Pour in the wine and allow it to evaporate.

Add the tomatoes and aromatics
Stir in the crushed tomatoes, garlic cloves, fennel (sprigs or seeds), basil if using, and seasoning.

Simmer
Cover and cook over low heat for 30–40 minutes, until thickened and flavoursome. Remove garlic before serving.

Cook the pasta
Boil the Gnocchetti Sardi in salted water until al dente. Drain, reserving a little pasta water.

Dress the pasta
Combine pasta with the ragù, adding a splash of pasta water if needed.

Serve
Present with plenty of grated Pecorino Sardo. Enjoy immediately.

Alternative: Simple Tomato Salsa

If you prefer a lighter dressing or want a summery version:

Crushed Tomatoes.
Ingredients
  • ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 800 g crushed tomatoes or puréed fresh tomatoes
  • 2 whole garlic cloves
  • Fresh basil
  • Salt and pepper

Method

Place all ingredients in a pan and cook uncovered until the sauce thickens. Remove garlic.
In a separate pan, brown the crumbled sausage meat and add it—along with the pan juices—to the salsa.

This produces a lighter, fresher flavour than a full ragù.

**The post below has great photos of my Sicilian aunt making Sicilian Gnocchetti:

Gnucchiteddi (Making Small Gnocchi Shapes Using My Great Grandmother’s Device)

 

PASTA WITH SARDINES AND PEAS (PASTA CA NOCCA – PASTA COI FIOCCHI)

 

Pasta ca nocca, a traditional Sicilian dish made with peas and fresh sardines. In Sicilian, nocca means a ribbon or bow — something decorative, something meant to catch the eye. Likely named at a time when a bright ribbon in your hair was considered the height of charm.

Anche l’occhio vuole la sua parte” — even the eyes deserve their share.
It’s an Italian saying I love, especially when it comes to food. Presentation matters, and language often reflects that.

The dish itself is visually striking — the fresh green peas scattered among the pasta are a simple, beautiful contrast. It demands admiration before the first bite.

I like to make it even more charming by using farfalle — butterfly-shaped pasta that, to me, resemble tiny bows. A playful take on the name and a feast for both the eyes and the palate.

INGREDIENTS
pasta, 500g, short pasta (such as farfalle , fusilli or shells)
sardines, 300g fillets
peas, 400g fresh, green, young and shelled
parsley, a small bunch, cut finely
onion, 1 cut finely
extra virgin olive oil, ¾ cup
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
grated pecorino, to taste

PROCESSES

Soften the onion in the extra virgin olive oil.
Add the peas, seasoning and the parsley. Without the lid, stir the contents gently over medium heat until the peas are well coated with the oil and the parsley has softened.
Add a splash of water (or white wine or vegetable stock), cover and cook gently until the peas have softened.
Add the sardines and continue to braise the contents uncovered until the sardines have cooked (only a few minutes) and broken up in the sauce.
As an alternative, I like to lightly fry the sardines separately and then add them to the cooked pasta and the peas. This is not the traditional method for this recipe, but I particularly like to taste individual flavours.
Present with grated pecorino.
VARIATIONS
In some households a little tomato salsa is added to the peas.
Others add wild fennel.
Some use anchovies instead of fresh sardines.

 

Other Sardine recipes:

LAYERED SARDINES (CROSTATA DI SARDINE)

PASTA CON LE SARDE (SARDINES)

 

TRIGLE (Red Mullet) AND ORECCHIETTE (pasta)

Red Mullet 2

In this recipe I am using Red Mullet, also known as Goatfish; they are called Trigle in Italian. In Australia this little fish is very underrated, but travel to any country around the Mediterranean and southern Europe and you will find that it is highly esteemed.

Orecchiette, (pasta shaped like little ears) are popular in Puglia, a region in southern Italy bordering the Adriatic Sea in the east and the Ionian Sea to the southeast.

Replace the Red Mullet with any other sweet tasting white fish, such as whiting or try crabmeat – both are sustainable. Pink Ling, Red Snapper and Red emperor  are also suitable for this dish and all have an attractive pink skin; they are all fished in Australia and/or New Zealand and both countries aim to manage for a sustainable and productive stock (overfishing has occurred in the past and stocks in certain locations still require rebuilding – in Think Twice Category by The Australian Marine Conservation Society).

Gurnard

I always select less than the standard recommended 100g of pasta per person, especially if it is not for a main course. The following amount will feed 5-6 people in my household.

Red snapper fillets

300g fish: red mullet or similar cut into bite size pieces
300g broccoli or cauliflower or broccolini ( separated or cut into small pieces)
400g orecchiette
150g anchovies
¾ cup of olive oil,
2 cloves of garlic, chopped finely
1 cup of chopped parsley
4 chopped tomatoes
1-2 chillies, remove the seeds if you do not want the dish to be hot

salt to taste

 Sauté the garlic and chillies in about ½ cup of oil, add the broccoli and toss them around in the pan until they are well coated. Add the chopped anchovies and cook until softened. You may prefer to leave the broccoli with a little crunch – if not – add a splash of water and cook for longer.
Remove the contents from the pan and set aside.
Pan-fry the fish lightly in the same pan with the rest of the oil.
Add the chopped tomatoes and parsley and cook for a few minutes until the tomatoes have softened.
Mix the two cooked components and reheat.
Dress the cooked pasta with the above sauce and serve.