An undoubtedly iconic element among Sardinian food and wine offerings are the culurgiones from Ogliastra. Culurgiones are a type of stuffed pasta that has not only become famous for its fabulous flavors, characterized by the filling of potatoes, pecorino cheese and mint, but also for its intricate spiked closures. Artfully crafted with incredible variations in flavor and condiments, it is their original recipe that remains a staple on the tables of our island.

INGREDIENTS:

For the dough:
350 g of semolina
150 g of double-milled semolina
20 g of extra virgin olive oil
10 g of salt
150 g of water

For the filling:
patate gialle 1 kg
casu ‘e fitta 200 g
1 kg of yellow potatoes
200 g of casu ‘e fitta cheese
100 g of grated aged pecorino cheese
extra virgin olive oil to taste
1 clove of garlic
10 mint leaves
2 g of salt

METHOD:

For the dough:
Combine the two types of semolina on a working space and create a well in the center. Add the oil, water and salt in the center and knead for about ten minutes, until the mixture becomes smooth.

Form the dough into a ball, wrap it with a cloth, and let it rest at room temperature for about an hour.

For the filling:
Boil the potatoes in a large pot of water for 40 minutes. After slightly cooled, peel and grate the cooked potatoes. This step is the secret to obtaining a perfect filling that maintains a slightly textured consistency. Next, add the grated pecorino and crumbled su casu ‘e fitta cheese and combine all the ingredients with your hands.

At this point, warm some extra virgin olive oil over low heat in two separate pans. To infuse the olis, add 1 clove of garlic to one pan of oil and a handful (about a dozen) of mint leaves in the other. Once flavored, blend the infused oils with the blender.

Allow the oils to cool completely and then add 3g each of the garlic oil and 10g of the mint oil to the potato filling. Add salt to taste and knead with your hands. Take the dough that was left to rest and cut a part of it, remembering to always wrap the rest in the cloth to keep it from drying out. Roll out the dough with the help of a sheeter to obtain a thickness of about 1 mm. Create discs with a pastry cutter (the ideal size has a diameter of 8 cm). Put a fair amount of filling in the center of each disc with a piping bag. Close the culurgiones by gently pinching them first on one side and then on the other to obtain the classic spike closure. Finally, lay them on a flat surface with the spiked closure facing upwards.