Red tunafish in nut crust

Select a tuna fillet, approximately 800 gr. in weight, possibly from the lower part of the abdomen. Rub gently with extra virgin olive oil, salt and black pepper. Finely chop the pine nuts, hazel nuts, unsalted pistachios and a few fresh mint leaves. Add the breadcrumbs and the black and white sesame seeds. Mix well. Briefly toast the mixture in a dry skillet. Add a little salt. Pressing firmly, coat the tuna on all sides. Pre-heat oven to 150° C. Place the tunafish on wax paper and bake for 10 minutes so that it is crusty outside and bright red on the inside. Serve thickly sliced and sprinkle with a few drops of reduced balsamic vinegar.

Ingredients (4 portions):
800 gr. red tunafish fillet
100 gr. breadcrumbs
100 gr. chopped nuts (pine nuts, hazel nuts, unsalted pistachios)
Black and white sesame to taste
Extra virgin olive oil
Reduced balsamic vinegar
Fresh mint leaves
Salt
Pepper


Bonorva “Pane Zichi”

Dice the courgettes and briefly sauté them in very little extra virgin olive oil. While simmering, add a few wild fennel seeds and a pinch of salt. Cooking time must be brief so that courgettes maintain their bright green colour. Coarsely break the zichi bread and poach in a meat broth. When the broth begins to reduce in volume and the pieces of bread start to curl up, add two tablespoons of soft “Fiore Sardo” cheese, the crushed ripe tomatoes and the previously prepared courgettes. Cook for a few minutes more. If necessary, add a ladleful of broth. Drain the zichi and place on a plate adding some diced smoked ricotta (known as “mustia”) and crumbled fresh mint leaves.

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Ingredients (4 portions):
400 gr. Bonorva zichi bread
500 cl. Meat broth
100 gr. Crushed ripe tomatoes
50 gr. Mustia ricotta
2 medium sized courgettes
Extra virgin olive oil to taste
Fiore Sardo cream cheese
Wild fennel seeds
Fresh mint leaves


Tufellas in smoked barracuda sauce

Mix durum wheat semolina with two egg yolks, a little warm water and the turmeric to give the fresh pasta a bright yellow colour. Leave to stand. Roll out the dough and cut into two-centimetre wide strips. Cut again into six-centimetre long pieces, roll up and shape into spirals. This shape is reminiscent of the shells that house hermit crabs, which in Algherese dialect are called “tufellas”.

Fillet the barracuda and in a smoker, place it – skin downwards – on a bed of juniper leaves and berries and green coffee beans. Once it is cured, coarsely crumble and add to the desalted capers. Leave to stand in a bowl with half of the olive oil. Cook the tufellas in boiling salted water and drain “al dente”. Briefly sauté in a pan with the remaining oil, salt, diced tomatoes, capers and the smoked barracuda. Serve garnished with julienne orange and lemon peel.

Tufellas al barracuda affumicato

Ingredients (4 portions):
400 gr. Durum wheat semolina
2 eggs
10 gr. Turmeric
700 gr. Mediterranean barracuda
200 gr. Diced tomatoes
20 gr. Salted capers
20 cl. Extra virgin olive oil
Orange and lemon peel
Salt


Black and white linguine with stingray

Prepare one dough with 125 gr. 00 flour and 125 semolina, one egg and a little warm water. Prepare another dough like the first, adding a tablespoon of fresh squid ink. Leave dough to stand. Roll out both doughs and place one on top of the other while still damp. Roll out again. Roll up the black and white dough and slice to obtain tagliolini. Steam stingray wings for fifteen minutes after scraping clean under running water. Peel and fillet. Add to some crushed San Marzano tomatoes. Season with salt. Gently heat in a skillet with a few drops of olive oil. Cook the linguine in boiling salted water, drain “al dente” and briefly sauté in the sauce. Top with a few torn fresh basil leaves and freshly ground back pepper.

Linguine bianche e nere alla razza

Ingredients (4 portions):
250 gr. 00 Flour
250 gr. Durum wheat semolina
2 Eggs
1 tablespoon Fresh squid ink
500 gr. Stingray wings
150 gr. Crushed San Marzano tomatoes
Extra virgin olive oil
Fresh basil
Salt
Pepper


Sea bass marinated in seasoned salt and brown sugar

In a container place a grill, colander, or other slotted utensil so that the marinade juices can drain off. Fillet the sea bass and place on the grill, skin downwards. Cover it completely as if to form a crust with the seasoned salt, brown sugar and some finely minced orange zest. Massage briefly and place in the refrigerator for at least six hours. Scrape off crust and thinly slice. Place slices in the extra virgin olive oil and serve on small pieces of carasau bread.

 

Spigola al sale speziato e zucchero di canna

Ingredients (4 portions):
800 gr. Sea bass
300 gr. Kosher salt
100 gr. “Mascobado” raw cane sugar
30 gr. Finely minced spices (cinnamon, cloves, star anise, pink pepper corns, wild fennel seeds)
Orange peel
2 dl. Extra virgin olive oil
Carasau bread


Mussels catalan style

After washing and scraping the mussels clean, place in a skillet. Add oil, diced fresh tomatoes, puréed tomatoes, helichrysum and thyme. Cover pan and cook for about 10 minutes. Remove cover and deglaze pan with the wine. Check that mussels have opened and sprinkle with a little chopped parsley.

Cozze alla catalana

Ingredients (4 portions):
1.5 kg. Fresh mussels
0.5 dl. White wine
50 ml. extra virgin olive oil
100gr. Diced tomatoes
50 gr. Puréed tomatoes
10 gr. Flowered helichrysum
a twig serpillo thyme
Parsley


Octopus in garlic-and-vinegar sauce

Put an octopus of two kilos to boil in a saucepan with plenty of water without salt.
When cooked, let it cool and, subsequently, cut it into small pieces and place it in a low salad bowl. Separately prepare a generous “agliata”, putting in a saucepan some well rinsed dry tomatoes, from which the salt has been removed in fresh water and which have been finely chopped with a mezzaluna knife on a chopping  board. Add some olive oil to the tomatoes, plenty of chopped garlic, chilli pepper to taste, two bay leaves if it is winter, a few basil leaves, on the contrary, if it is summer, and at last a little water.
When the “agliata” is cooked, add half a glass of white wine vinegar, continue the cooking in order to evaporate the vinegar and, as soon as it is ready, pour it over the octopus until it is covered.

Ingredients (4 portions):
Kg 2 Octopus
g 500 Dry salted tomatoes
5 Garlic cloves
2 Chilli peppers
dl 0,5 Olive oil
dl 0,5 White wine vinegar
Bay leaves


Lamb cutlets with wild fennel

Season the cutlets with salt and pepper. Then brown both sides with olive oil in a very hot pan. Add the wild fennel, which previously have been blanched and cut into pieces, cooking for at least five minutes.
Afterwards soften with half a glass of dry white wine and remove the cutlets from the pan immediately. Reduce the cooking juices on a low heat for a couple of minutes and wet the meat that you have placed in a dish on a bed of wild fennel.

Ingredients (4 portions):
Kg 1 Lamb cutlets
1 Bunch of wild fennel
½ Glass of dry white wine
dl 0,5 Olive oil
Pepper
Salt


The vine-dresser’s “cassola”

This is the soup of summer, when there is an abundant production of vegetables, the garden products are particularly fragrant and when you add the taste of snails to the vegetables.
Blanch the snails for a couple of minutes. Then, in a saucepan, prepare a sautéed mixture of olive oil, garlic, chopped  parsley, fresh tomato pulp and chilli pepper.
Add the snails and vegetables cut into pieces and water.
Cook on a low heat for 45 minutes and, before turning it off, flavour with basil. Serve in  plates on a few slices of stale bread.
In ancient times, in the vegetable gardens and vineyards it was served on prickly pear leaves and, to taste it people used forks made of reed.

Ingredients (4 portions):
Kg 1 Snails
g 200 Peppers
g 200 potatoes
g 300 Aubergines
g 200 Turnip cabbage
g 200 Courgettes
g 200 Tomato pulp
dl 0,2 Olive oil
1 Garlic clove
Parsley
Basil
Chilli pepper
Salt


Onion “Copatza” with eggs

Onion soup is one of the many poor dishes of the Mediterranean cuisine. In the gastronomic tradition of Alghero you can find several versions, one of which with eggs.
Slice the big golden onions (if it is time of long fresh onions, prefer them!), add finely chopped dried tomatoes, after having soaked them in fresh water in order to remove the salt, and brown it all for a short time in olive oil.
Season to taste with chopped parsley, basil and chilli pepper, adding enough water for the broth that
must become concentrated.
When the broth is a little reduced, add an egg per person. Put a pinch of salt on the eggs and cover the pan for two minutes. Serve hot in the plates where you have put a few slices of  stale bread.

Ingredients (4 portions):
g 500 Golden onions
4 Eggs
3 Dried tomatoes
dl 0,5 Olive oil
Chilli pepper
Salt
Parsley
Basil