Cuisine of Sardinia facts for kids

The cuisine of Sardinia is the traditional food of the island of Sardinia. It shows off its own unique style, mixed with ideas from other Mediterranean cultures over time. Sardinia's food is split into two main types: food from the land and food from the sea. This shows the island's history and its different landscapes, from the coast to the rugged mountains. Sardinian food is part of the Mediterranean diet, which is a healthy eating style recognized by UNESCO.

Tasty Seafood Dishes

Uncooked Fregula pasta

• In Cagliari, you can find fregula cun còciula (small pasta with clams). Other dishes include còciula e cotza a sa schiscionera (clams and mussels cooked in a pan).
• Burrida a sa casteddaja is a dish made with dogfish, vinegar, and walnuts.
• Cassòla is a soup with different kinds of fish, crabs, and shellfish.
• You might also try s'aligusta a sa casteddaja (Cagliari-style lobster).
• Common pasta dishes are spaghetti with clams and butàriga (cured fish roe).
• Spaghitus cun arritzonis is spaghetti with sea urchins, often with artichokes or wild asparagus.
• Around Oristano and Cabras, and also Bosa, you'll often find eels in dishes.
• From fish eggs, they make mullet botargo, which can be eaten alone or used on pasta.
• Sa merca is another traditional food. It's boiled and salted mullet slices wrapped in a special herb called zibba.
• Along the Sulcis coast, there are old tuna fishing spots. The food here is influenced by Genoa and uses a lot of bluefin tuna. You can find tuna botargo, tuna heart, and musciame (dried tuna).
• The Tabarchin cascà is a type of couscous with vegetables.
• Alghero's food shows its Catalan history. Lobster is prepared the Catalan way: boiled with tomato, celery, and onion, served with a sauce of lemon, olive oil, salt, and pepper.
• Near Santa Teresa and the Maddalena islands, octopus salads are popular. In Olbia, dishes often feature mussels and clams.
• From both the north and south of the island, you can find Ortziadas or Bultigghjata, which are sea anemones coated in flour and fried.

Hearty Inland and Mountain Food

First Courses to Try

Malloreddus pasta

• Malloreddus are small, tapered pasta shapes made from durum wheat. They are often flavored with saffron. They are usually served with a sausage sauce or with Casu furriau (melted cheese and saffron). They are also called Sardinian gnocchetti.
• Culurgiones are fresh durum wheat dumplings. They are filled with ricotta cheese and mint, or with potato, fresh cheese, and mint.

A dish of culurgiònes

• Lorighittas are special pasta made in Morgongiori. They are created by weaving a double strand of pasta.
• Macarrones de busa are like thick spaghetti, made with a special long iron tool.
• Macarrones furriaos are dumplings topped with fresh pecorino cheese, melted with bran to make a creamy sauce.
• Macarrones cravàos (also called chiusòni in Gallura) are small, cylinder-shaped durum wheat dumplings. They are popular all over the island, especially in Gallura.
• Fregula is a dry pasta made from small lumps of durum wheat semolina. It's used in dishes like fregula with clams or with sauce. It's also great in meat broths.
• Gallurese soup or suppa cuatta is made with Sardinian bread, casizolu cheese, spices, and pecorino cheese. All these are softened with broth and baked in the oven.
• In Sassari, fabadda (favata) is a traditional soup. It's usually made during Carnival with dried beans, cabbage, fennel, pork rind, and pork.
• Panada is a pastry pie filled with lamb (or eels), potatoes, and dried tomatoes. It's a specialty in towns like Assemini and Oschiri.
• Pane frattau is pane carasau (a type of bread) soaked in broth. It's layered with grated pecorino cheese and tomato sauce, topped with a poached egg.
• Filindeu is a very fine pasta made only in Nuoro. It's woven in a special way and served with sheep's broth and lots of fresh cheese.
• Su succu is a dish from Busachi. It uses very thin tagliolini (angel hair pasta) cooked in sheep's broth, flavored with saffron, and topped with fresh, tangy pecorino cheese.

Main Courses to Savor

Roasted Porcetto

• Porchetta or porcetto (in Sardinian, porceddu) is a suckling pig, usually about 4-5 kg. It's cooked slowly on a spit or grill and flavored with myrtle or rosemary after cooking. This roast is a classic of Sardinian shepherd food.
• Roast suckling lamb is also very popular. The lamb weighs up to 7 kg and has white, tender meat with a strong flavor. It's a very old tradition on the island.
• Roast baby goat is a special dish. The kid is roasted slowly on a spit, usually seasoned only with fine salt during cooking.

Carabineros shrimp with Vernaccia wine.

• Wild boar meat is cooked in different ways. One way is in sweet and sour sauce: the meat is cut into small pieces, browned with onion, parsley, myrtle, and thyme, then vinegar and tomato sauce are added.

Cordula stew with olives

• Cordula or Cordedda is made from braided intestines of kid or lamb. It can be cooked on a spit or in a pan with peas (cordula cun pisurci).
• Trattalia or Tattaliu uses lamb or goat's breast. It's roasted on a spit with pieces of liver, heart, and lung, wrapped in a special membrane. It can also be cooked in a pan with peas or artichokes.
• Zurrette or sambene is a dish made with sheep's blood. It's seasoned with animal fat, onion, thyme, mint, grated pecorino, and shredded carasau bread. It's cooked inside the animal's stomach by boiling.
• Berbeche in coat is boiled sheep with onions and potatoes, served with carasau bread soaked in the cooking broth.
• Pillonis de tàccula is a game dish, mainly thrushes and blackbirds. They are boiled, salted, and flavored with myrtle leaves.
• Zimino or ziminu is a traditional Sassari dish. It uses veal entrails like diaphragm, intestine, heart, kidneys, liver, and spleen, cooked on a grill.
• Mungetas (snails) come in various sizes. They can be boiled with potatoes, prepared with a spicy sauce, or filled with cheese, eggs, parsley, and breadcrumbs. They are also cooked in a pan with garlic, oil, parsley, and breadcrumbs.
• Su Ghisadu is a dish from Logudoro. It's sheep's meat or wild pork roasted slowly with tomato, bay leaf, garlic, and parsley. The sauce is great for cicciones gnocchetti or colunzones ravioli.
• Ispinada is a small spit where sheep meat is stuffed into softer cuts, alternating with fatty parts.

Sweet Treats

Sardinian desserts are very different from one region to another. Here are some of the most famous:

Copuletas, a typical sweet from Ozieri

• Seadas or Sebadas are thin dough discs filled with fresh, slightly sour pecorino cheese (or cow cheese) melted with semolina and flavored with lemon. They are fried and covered with melted honey, often bitter honey.

Seadas, a popular Sardinian dessert

• Casadinas are pies with a thin layer of lemon-flavored fresh cheese. They are common in Logudoro and Barbagia. There's also a version with ricotta cheese called Regotinas.
• Pàrdulas are similar to Casadinas but filled with ricotta. They are dome-shaped, softer, and covered with powdered sugar. They are typical of Campidano.
• Aranzada is a dessert from the Baronies and Nuoro area. It's made with candied orange peel in honey and toasted almonds, shaped like diamonds, and served on an orange leaf.
• Pabassinas (also Papassinos or Pabassinus) are found everywhere. They are made with semolina, walnuts, raisins, almonds, or hazelnuts.
• Cattas (also Frigjolas or Frisolas) are mainly made during Carnival. They are long cords of fried dough made with flour, potatoes, water, sugar, anise, and grated orange peel.
• Orilletas are made from flour and eggs. After frying, they are dipped in a hot syrup of honey and water.
• Copulettas are two thin shortcrust pastry discs filled with sapa (cooked grape must) or cooked honey. They are popular in Goceano and Ozieri.
• Gueffus (also Guelfos or Sospiri) are small balls made of ground almonds, sugar, and lemon. They are typical of Ozieri and wrapped in small colored paper.
• Candelaus are almond paste desserts with fresh almonds, orange blossom water, and a glaze. They come in many shapes.
• Pistocus finis are also called 'Sardinian Ladyfinger Biscuits'.
• Tziliccas (also Tiriccas or Caschettas) are shaped like horseshoes, crescents, or hearts. They have a short pastry outside and a filling that can be sapa and walnuts, or honey and saffron.
• Is Angules are round, amber-colored sweets from Ortueri. They are decorated with designs of flowers, fruit, or animals.
• Bianchinos (also Bianchittus or Bianchittos) are meringues made with whipped egg whites. They are pyramid-shaped, very crumbly, and often topped with almonds.
• Cruxoneddus de mèndula (or Culurgioneddos de mèndula) are small ravioli made with puff pastry filled with almonds. They are fried and dusted with powdered sugar. They can also be filled with custard, ricotta, or sapa cream.
• Amarettos (also Marigosos) are sweet macaroons made with sweet and bitter almonds, sugar, egg white, and lemon peel.
• Bucconettes from Belvì are made with toasted, chopped hazelnuts, grated lemon and orange zest. They are mixed, shaped into balls, cooked in honey and sugar syrup, and wrapped in foil and colored paper.
• Abbamele is an old Sardinian product made from honey. It's also called "honey decoction" or "honey sapa".
• Pane 'e saba is a winter sweet from the Barbagia region, made with saba.

Pan 'e Saba

• The nougat from Tonara, Pattada, Ozieri, and Orgosolo has an ivory color because it's made with Mediterranean honey.
• Rujolos are ricotta balls with grated orange or lemon peel. They are then dipped in a hot mix of water and honey.
• Gatò de mèndula is a crunchy treat made of toasted almonds flavored with orange peel.
• Mandagadas (also Tritzas, Acciuleddi) are braided dough desserts soaked in honey. They are made with durum wheat flour, eggs, and Sardinian honey.
• Mustatzolos (or Mustaciolus) are diamond-shaped like Papassinos. They are flavored with lemon and cinnamon and have a glaze on top.
• Papai-biancu (also Manjar blanc in Catalan) is a dessert from Alghero. It's made with milk cream, starch, and lemon peel.
• Pistoccheddus de capa is a hard, golden biscuit from Serrenti. It's shaped like animals and covered with icing, silver sprinkles, and golden decorations.

Traditional Breads

Pane carasau bread

• Pane carasau is a very thin, crunchy bread shaped like discs. It's baked twice in a wood oven. You can eat it dry or slightly wet and rolled up. Guttiau bread is carasau bread heated in the oven with a little oil and salt.
• Pistoccu is made mainly in Ogliastra. It's similar to carasau but thicker and often eaten moist.
• Civraxiu or Civargiu is a large loaf of bread typical of Campidani and southern Sardinia.
• Coccoi a pitzus is a decorated bread, once made for special events, but now always available.
• Modditzos is a soft, circular bread, often made with added potatoes. It's common in Dorgali but found throughout the region.
• Zichi is a bread typical of Bonorva.
• Spianada is a soft, circular bread from the Nuoro area. It was once made during the monthly baking of Pane carasau and eaten in the following days.

Sardinian Wines

Sardinia has vineyards all over the island, from the plains to the mountains. The special soil and sunny weather help produce high-quality wines. Winemaking has been a tradition since ancient times. Today, Sardinia has many different types of wines, including 15 IGT, 19 DOC, and 1 DOCG wines. Cannonau is a typical Sardinian red wine. It's rich in special compounds called phenols and made from Grenache grapes. It pairs perfectly with red meats.

Unique Cheeses

Sardinia is known for its many traditional cheeses, mostly made from sheep's milk. One very famous cheese is Pecorino Sardo, a hard cheese with a strong flavor, often used for grating.

See also

In Spanish: Gastronomía de Cerdeña para niños