“Travels” in Sardinia (Sardegna)

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I don’t have any Sardinia stories. With any luck, someday I will, but it is going to take a while to get through my ever-increasing list of places I “must” visit if I ever get a chance. I was able to find several cookbooks dedicated to the food of Sardinia, including some in Italian. While I cannot speak Italian, I usually do pretty well with the food words.

There are some excellent-sounding, simple recipes in Bitter Honey, including, for example, roasted pecorino with walnuts and honey, served with pane carasau, the traditional, paper thin, Sardinian “music paper bread.” I fully intend to try my hand at pane carasau one day, but I have not gotten there yet.

There’s also a recipe for slow-cooked flat beans with tomato, pancetta, and chili pepper. Growing up, we just called those “Italian” beans. We had family friends of Neapolitan origin who typically used this preparation for the flat beans from my mom’s garden, without the pancetta. Alas, fresh flat beans are not currently available, but as soon I can get my hands on some, I will be making these. If you haven’t had flat beans slow-cooked in tomato and spices, you should definitely try it.

Based on my recipe research, eggplant also seems to be popular in Sardinia. Good eggplant have been available the last few weeks, and I have been experimenting with preparations that do not involve bread-crumbs. To reduce the water in the eggplant, I slice them (about 1/4 inch thick, a little thinner than that when I plan to roll them), put them on racks over rimmed baking sheets, sprinkle with kosher salt, cover with clean, lint-free towels (or paper towels), then set a stack of heavy pans on top and leave them for a few hours. They release a lot of liquid this way, and then the finished dish isn’t watery, even without pre-cooking the eggplant. I also cook the tomatoes down with a lot of garlic before assembling these eggplant dishes.

Good artichokes have also been available, so for the Sardinian recipe, we are going with simple stuffed artichokes. This is pretty much the recipe from Bitter Honey, with a few minor tweaks.

Stuffed Artichokes
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Stuffed Artichokes

Course: Uncategorized

Ingredients

  • 4 medium to large artichokes

  • 2 cloves garlic, very finely minced

  • Small bunch flat-leaf parsley, very finely chopped

  • About 1/2 tsp lemon zest

  • 1/4 cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano

  • 3/4 cup fine bread crumbs

  • Kosher salt

  • 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

Directions

  • Choose a square, non-reactive (ceramic) baking dish just large enough for all four artichokes to fit snugly.
    Preheat oven to 375° F.
  • Prepare the artichokes by cutting off the stem so that they sit flat. Turn them upside down (spikes down) and press down firmly to open the leaves. You’ll want to press a few times to really open them up so that the stuffing will distribute between the petals. Place the prepared artichokes in a large bowl of cold water with a bit of lemon juice in it as you finish opening each one.
  • In a mixing bowl, combine the garlic, parsley, lemon zest, cheese, bread crumbs, and a large pinch of salt.
  • Remove the artichokes from the water and shake them to remove water. Place them in the baking dish with spikes pointing up. Sprinkle the stuffing evenly over the artichokes, trying to get it into all of the gaps between each petal and in the center of the artichoke. Drizzle the oil evenly over the artichokes. Pour 8 oz water into the bottom of the pan. Cover with foil and bake for about 20 minutes. Remove foil and bake for about 30-40 minutes more, depending on the size of the artichokes. Add more liquid if it boils dry after the cover is removed. They are done when the petals pull off with little resistance.
  • Serve warm.