Easy Italian Recipes

Hearty Shepherd's Fare

For the most part, the traditional cooking of the island of Sardinia has surprisingly little to do with the sea. Centuries of occupation by outside invaders prompted the Sardinians to retreat to the island's rugged, mountainous interior, where they herded sheep, and to this day, lamb, sheep's milk cheese, and pork remain the cornerstones of the cuisine. Shepherds would leave their homes for Months at a time, carrying with them pane carasau, a thin, crisp durum-wheat flatbread, which they ate along with boar prosciutto or spit- or pit-roasted pork, lamb, or wild game. Semolina pasta, particularly smali gnocchi and the couscouslikefregola, are homecooking stapies of this region. Along the coast, seafood dishes tend toward simplicity and include the robust seafood stew, burrida, as well as grilled or roasted fish and lobster dressed with olive oil and lemon. Sardinian wines that pair well with the food of the region include Vermentino, a big-flavored white, and Cannonau, a dry red.

Culinary Signature: Bottarga

Bottarga, salted dried mullet roe, has been called the "caviar of Sardinia." To make it, the roe sac of the fish must be carefully removed so that it remains intact. It is salted, pressed, and air dried, and then coated with wax as a preservative. Bottarga is sliced thin and served with olive oil and lemon as an antipasto or shaved on pasta, artichokes, and other dishes to add rich, salty flavor.

Fregola also called "Sardinian couscous," toasted pellet-shaped semolina pasta, often served in broth and paired with seafood

Malloreddus small semolina gnocchi made with saffron, served with tornato sauce, lamb ragù, or butter and pecorino

Culingiones spinach and pecorino ravioli

Impanada a savory bread-dough turnover filled with meat or eel

Porceddu spit-roasted suckling pig

Pane carasau thin rounds of crisp flatbread, also known as carta da musica (music paper) Pane frattau softened pane carasau topped with tornato sauce and a fried egg

Pecorino sardo prized throughout Italy as one of the country's finest sheep's milk cheeses

Miele di corbezzolo dark, bitter honey from the wild Sardinian strawberry tree

Sebadas fried sweet cheese raviol

Photo: Simple, rustic seafood stews make the most of the abundance of fresh seafood in coastal Italy, as well as the islands of Sardinia and Sicily.