The Cooking and Cuisine of Sardinia

[Shaya]

Nathan, those malloreddus look fantastic. What kind of flour did you use (ETA: or are they homemade?) to make them?

Edited June 3, 2006 by Shaya (log)

[NYC Mike]

Wow Nathan! Nice dish! Those malloreddus look very similar to one of my favorites, cavateli. Do you think they would be a fair substitute if I can't find malloreddus?

The Regional Food of Southern Italy by Marleni di Blasi (recently reprinted and republished under a new name)

Picked this up at Barnes and Noble yesterday, it is called "A Taste of Southern Italy" now. It is a very entertaining read so far, she is so very dramatic.

-Mike

[Kevin72]

Another possible cookbook reference for Sardinia: Marcella Hazan's Marcella Cucina seemed to have a lot of Sardinian recipes.

[Kevin72]

Picked this up at Barnes and Noble yesterday, it is called "A Taste of Southern Italy" now.  It is a very entertaining read so far, she is so very dramatic.

-Mike

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Yeah, I love her recipes, but her prose can get a little at times. Wait 'til you read the chapter on Puglia! Fittingly, her next books after these were romance novels.

Edited June 3, 2006 by Kevin72 (log)

[Nathan P.]

Nathan, those malloreddus look fantastic.  What kind of flour did you use (ETA: or are they homemade?) to make them?

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These were purchased- hard to to have time to make pasta after work on Friday. They were imprted from Sardinia though. I do have a recipe if you want it:

2.5 cup very fine semolina

.5 cup ap flour

pinch of ground saffron

1 cup lukewarm water

After you make the dough just roll it into a long tube, cut the pieces and then roll them on your cuiliri/cuilini

Wow Nathan!  Nice dish!  Those malloreddus look very similar to one of my favorites, cavateli.  Do you think they would be a fair substitute if I can't find malloreddus?

-Mike

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I think cavatelli would make a good stand in though some of the ones I see in stores are a bit longer. The recipe I have uses more ap and less semolina in the cavatelli but I don't think this would matter too much. I wish I had fresh tomatoes instead of canned for this since they would have made it less saucy and let the 2 colors of the pasta stand out more.

[Pontormo]

Nathan: Your brand of Sardinian dried pasta looks superior to the brand available at Balducci's (see my post at the beginning of the thread). The fregola seems to have been toasted, i.e. the individual balls of grain are a variety of colors from pale yellow to black.

There were also bags of malloreddus, but I didn't buy them since they were made without the traditional saffron (and also weren't as photogenic as yours) and they just didn't seem all that different from Puglia's orchiette except in shape. Are they?

I understand from the recipe at epicurious that the ridges were traditionally formed by rolling the pieces of dough in a basket, as opposed to using the prongs of a fork.

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Something else Sardinia is known for is Miele Amaro, honey produced from the "arbutus-berry" whose flowers bloom from October through February.

Check out the Gelato di San Crispino, the first flavor listed at this gelateria in Rome. Perhaps Andrew Fenton could investigate and give us a report?

[Shaya]

Nathan, I know what you mean about Friday-night-after-work-cooking! They still look fabulous. Thanks for the recipe but I actually made some today with a recipe I've used in the past. It uses only semolina flour, and saffron, water and olive oil. I would think they might be a bit less dry if I were to sub in a bit of AP flour for some of the semolina. I rolled them on my wooden gnocchi roller.

I also made a meat sauce today, we'll have it tomorrow for dinner. Here is a preview of the little guys:

Edited June 3, 2006 by Shaya (log)

[NYC Mike]

Nathan, I know what you mean about Friday-night-after-work-cooking!  They still look fabulous.  Thanks for the recipe but I actually made some today with a recipe I've used in the past.  It uses only semolina flour, and saffron, water and olive oil.  I would think they might be a bit less dry if I were to sub in a bit of AP flour for some of the semolina.  I rolled them on my wooden gnocchi roller.

I also made a meat sauce today, we'll have it tomorrow for dinner.  Here is a preview of the little guys:

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Gorgeous Shaya!

Mind taking a pic of that gnocci roller??

mike

[Shaya]

Gorgeous Shaya! 

Mind taking a pic of that gnocci roller??

mike

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Thanks Mike. Here is the roller. It was made by an Italian guy in town, but they are very common in Italy. Makes the process very easy. I recommend these gnocchis - I find them much easier to work with than the potato ones - although you seem to have mastered those on your first try!

[NYC Mike]

Nice pic Shaya, what a handy tool that is.

We made our first Sardenian meal tonight. I had boss lady supervision but she acted as moral support, advisor and most importantly sr. vp. in charge of wine pouring.

I should have looked harder last month for Ligurian wine, was in the villiage this week and stopped in at Astor Wine, they have Ligurian, Sardinian, you name it and their wide variety allows me to stay within my self imposed price limit for 06'. They ship too! link here

This white was huge qpr. It was very aromatic and fruity the high acidity cut through the fried food we made very well. I love these off the "cool" radar places and wines, they consistently over impress based on their price.

The next three were from the Bugialli book, Foods of Sicily and Sardinia. Oh how I wish Hazan's Essentials book was organized like this one with a regional heading on each dish!!

I think I need menu consulting too , I don't know if I have served a balanced meal yet and I don't quite have the stamina for a full antipasti, primi, secondi, dolci affair yet.

First was Frittelle di Zucchine, these were great right out of the pan, red hot with coarse salt and lemon. As they cooled they very quickly lost their luster.

Main was Cotolette di Maiale alla Sarda with Fagiolini all'Aglio. The pork was outstanding, I will make them this way again for sure. The beans were dissapointing, the aroma of the parsley and anchovy sauce in the pan was such a tease, unfortunatly it didn't carry over to the plate. The taste was bland.

edited to add: I have to think this was my error somewhere. The smell was so good and then flop. Could I or should I have left it cook more, covered to steep?

Notice the untrimmed string bean ends, my wife pointed those out after the fact. Who would have thunk it, trim the beans!

Dessert was from the De Blasi book, Sebadas Olienese. I don't know, I'm sure I am "ordering" wrong to date but I have yet to make an Italian dessert that blows me away. They are all very nice, go well to finish the meal either with coffee or fortified wine etc. but not spectacular. I'll keep looking!

As my wife would say, Buen Provecho!

-mike

Edited June 4, 2006 by NYC Mike (log)

[Shaya]

Mike, those fritelle look really good. My grandmother makes something similar and she adds chicken to it. But I agree, once they turn cold eggs tend to lose their appeal.

[Andrew Fenton]

Something else Sardinia is known for is Miele Amaro, honey produced from the "arbutus-berry" whose flowers bloom from October through February.

Check out the Gelato di San Crispino, the first flavor listed at this gelateria in Rome.  Perhaps Andrew Fenton could investigate and give us a report?

Umm... it's good? Seriously, San Crispino is maybe the best gelato in Rome, and this flavor is pretty great. Like most of SC's flavors, it's pretty subtle: just a slight honey flavor. I think it'd take a pretty sophisticated palate (by which I mean "more sophisticated than my slacker palate") to recognize specific arbutus-y notes in it.

Random political/celebrity moment: my friend was at San Crispino last week and was right behind Romano Prodi. It's hard to imagine too many world leaders just stopping in for a quick gelato (Bush or Berlusconi? naaah.) But there he was-- though I don't know what flavor he got. My friend asked the worker (the gelataio?) how often Prodi comes in, and the guy just sort of shrugged his shoulders: "boh- often enough."

Anyway, here's a photo of an unripe arbutus berry (from Campania, not Sardinia), taken at the beginning of April:

You can how the berries are kind of fuzzy; when they get ripe they turn red and look a little like strawberries. Indeed, the arbutus sometimes gets referred to as the strawberry tree, a name that's probably more evocative than it deserves...

[Pontormo]

Wondered if you'd pick up on the challenge, Andrew, but had no idea you'd do so so quickly!

(I also love those speedy little lizards; great blog! )

Shaya : Gorgeous!!!! Now I have mold envy. I can't wait to see the finished dish, but can't imagine anything more beautiful than your perfect rows of pasta. The malloreddorus are like plump dusted butter curls.

Mike : You win the prize for the first complete Sardinian meal, inspirational at that. I am heading out to the farmers's market and looking forward to the first local zucchini.

As for Italian desserts, well, Andrew's post is the best reply: Gelato !

Edited June 4, 2006 by Pontormo (log)

[Pontormo]

Alberto, have you ever baked Sardinian breads?

Or anyone else, have you come across any recipes for Sardinian loaves, that is, bread other than the carte da musica, or other flat/cracker-like breads that seems to be used in cooking the way matzoh is during Passover?

I found this recipe & this site, but...

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One of the non-DOP Sardinian cheeses available here is a relatively mature, nutty goat cheese called Pantaleon. I highly recommend it.

[Shaya]

Ok, so I'm totally .

Those gnocchis that I've been dreaming about eating for 24 hours, well, they just won't cook. I boiled and boiled them - only the outside cooked. Then I cut them in half. Same story. Then I sliced them further, and popped them into the meat sauce, thinking that would help. Still not cooking inside. I've made them a few times before and never had this problem. The stuff is like concrete, only the outside gets moist, the inside stays nice and dry. What could have gone wrong?

[hathor]

Doing the research on Sardegna, I felt as though I was trying to hold jello in my hands, each time I thought I had a grasp on the culture or the food or the geography, it would slip through my hands. It feels as though researching this island could take a very long and enjoyable time.

First off, Sardinia is really, really old. There are human remains dating back to 150,000 BC. Obviously there is a long history here with influences from all over the Mediterranean and in particular from Spain.

Medieval Sardinia did not participate in Mediterranean trade. There is an old saying: “furat chie benit dae su mare” or “those who come from the sea are here to steal”. The farmers relied on traditional farming techniques, including the burning of the fields instead of letting them lie fallow. Bartering was used instead of currency. The only two grains mentioned in early documents are hard wheat (grano duro) and barley. However, there is extensive use of all types of beans. In the southern city of Sa’rrabus, a festival bread made of acorns and clay was made.

The city of Cagliari was the most exposed to Western civilization as it became an exporter of cheeses.

The local language, Sardo, is an officially recognized language and would be a superb language for playing Scrabble: porceddu, carraxiu…we are talking big bonus points here! The complex Latin derived language also reflects the influences of Arabic, Phoenician, Pisan, Catalan and Ligurian languages.

It’s the leading producer of organic producing in Italy, with fully one third of the cultivated land being dedicated to organic farming.

Its an island, surrounded by rich and diverse sea life, but historically, the cuisine is land based.

It was a very poor island until in recent times when tourism started to develop in the 1960’s, now Costa Smerelda is one of the chicest and most expensive resort areas in the world.

Cagliari is the capital city, and the island is comprised of 8 provinces, it is ranked 3rd in size for landmass, and 12th (or 11th, depending on your source) for population.

Discovering Sardinian cuisine is more akin to discovering a separate country’s cooking, than just a ‘region’ of Italy, as their relative isolation from the European mainland led to very unique dishes.

Let’s break this down into some broad categories.

Bread

Disregarding that dreadful sounding acorn and clay bread mentioned before, Sardinia has developed a fantastic and varied bread culture. Prior to the development of commercial granaries, wheat was ground at home with small stone grinders. Bread was normally baked in the evening, with very little yeast. The advantage of this bread, known as pane carasau and carta da musica, was that it was good to eat for many days, rather than needing to be baked every day. These days, the bread from Sardinia varies tremendously from town to town and from holiday to holiday. The area of Barbagia, in inner Sardinia, is famous for ‘pane frattau’ which is made from the flat carasau bread. It is cooked with broth and tomato sauce and then topped with a poached egg and grated pecorino.

Fruits & Vegetables

There is abundant use of tomatoes, artichokes, fava beans, peas, eggplant, zucchini, cabbage and cauliflower.

Gallura, a region in the northern part of the island, is famous for its mushrooms: ovule, porcini and the rare ’dittula’ mushroom.

Locally grown fruits include figs, pears, apples, cherries, prunes, pomegranates, oranges and mandarins.

Chestnuts, walnuts, hazelnuts, and almonds are grown here.

Is this sounding like the garden of Eden or what?

Pasta

Traditionally there is a frequent use of dried pastas, which are served with meat sauces or any of a variety of fresh sauces.

Pasta ‘a ferrittus” or ‘de busa” is another variation on the thin strip of pasta wound around a piece of metal or wheat, forming a spiral.

“Malloreddus” are the little gnocchi that we’ve already begun making, and which come from the Logudoro region. Traditionally this pasta is made using semolina and is flavored with saffron.

Ciciones are a similar type of gnocchi which come from the Sassari region.

Culingiones are a type of ravioli made with a pecorino and chard filling. There is also a sweet version made with almonds.

Meat

Sardinia is a shepherd culture, dominated by sheep and lamb. This is followed in popularity by pork, particularly the young suckling female, and by goat.

The interior of the island is home to a variety of game: hare, quail, rabbit, lepre, and wild boar.

A common way of cooking is by spit roasting the whole animal. “Porceddu” is spit roasted suckling pig.

Another traditional method of cooking meats is pit roasting or “incarralzadu”. In this method, after the pit is dug, it is lined with myrtle leaves, the animal is placed in the pit and then covered with more myrtle branches. Finally a fire is lit on top and the animal is slow roasted. One description of this cooking method also describes what goes on while the animal cooks: “around which chants and dances accompany the drinking until the pig is cooked.” Some things just never change, sounds like a modern barbecue to me.

“Zurrette” is a curious dish from the Bargaia region. It’s a sheep blood pudding, where the blood is flavored with herbs and cheese, put into the sheep stomach, sealed and then either steamed or roasted until the blood becomes a semi-solid ‘pudding’. Sort of sounding like haggis to me…..

A Ligurian influence is felt in the popularity of ‘panadas’ or meat pies.

Fish

The popularity of fish is a relatively recent development, although the southern port town of Cagliari boasts the largest fish market in Italy.

The description of the varieties of fish to be found at this market sound incredible! Clearly we need to do some on-site investigating!

Burrida, the Ligurian fish soup, is showing up here, but it is primarily made with dog fish (shark).

Bottarga, made from tuna and mullet is popular, served in thin shavings on top of pasta with parsely.

Here is an interesting description for “lattme” or “lattante” from the Porto Torres and Sassari region: “briefly boiled, then breaded and fried reproductive organs of tuna. What do they mean? Reproductive organs from boy tunas or girl tunas??

Sassari is also famous for its small snails which are served in a spicy tomato sauce, pan roasted, or with garlic and parsley (escargot anyone?).

Sweets

Most pastries seem to have either honey and/or almonds as an ingredient. There is a very varied and well developed pastry culture in Sardinia. One famous sweet is ‘sospiri’ which are small balls of almond dough with almonds embedded in them. There is abundant information on sweets from Sardinia, so I’m looking forward to seeing what you’ll are going to be making. I’m seriously deficient in the sweet tooth department….sorry.

Cheese

The most famous cheese is the pecorino sheep cheese, which comes in every possible variety, from 3 day old to the sharp, aged variety. Honestly, this category needs to be more fully explored. So, if anyone has some good cheese info, please step right on up!

There is lots of good wine in Sardinia and I’m sure Brad will have plenty of good info to share. I did come across one great description of the desert wine, Malvasia: it is the best wine for meditation and conversation. Who knew??

And this month, there is absolutely no question that we will ‘mange bene’.

[hathor]

Ok, so I'm totally  .

Those gnocchis that I've been dreaming about eating for 24 hours, well, they just won't cook.  I boiled and boiled them  - only the outside cooked.  Then I cut them in half.  Same story.  Then I sliced them further, and popped them into the meat sauce, thinking that would help.  Still not cooking inside.  I've made them a few times before and never had this problem.  The stuff is like concrete, only the outside gets moist, the inside stays nice and dry.  What could have gone wrong?

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What a drag!! What was the formula/recipe for the dough? Maybe we can figure out what happened.

I hate when stuff like that happens!!

[Pan]

Very interesting stuff, as usual.

[...]Medieval Sardinia did not participate in Mediterranean trade. There is an old saying: “furat chie benit dae su mare” or “those who come from the sea are here to steal”.  The farmers relied on traditional farming techniques, including the burning of the fields instead of letting them lie fallow.[...]

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I think that practice takes place today in many parts of Italy. When I was in Sermoneta, Latina, Lazio in the summer of 1991, I suffered from allergies because of the large amount of smoke from the wheatfields (I believe that's what I was told they were) in the surrounding countryside below the hill where Sermoneta is situated. As I recall, this practice is also done in Tuscany.

I think you're exaggerating a little about not participating in trade, though. In order for people to have a saying that those who come from the sea are here to steal, doesn't someone somewhere along the line have to have had dealings with people from overseas?

[Shaya]

Judith, thank you so much for the great summary.

The formula I used is as follows:

3 cups (430g) durum semolina flour

1 cup water with saffron

2 tbsp olive oil

It looks very similar to the proportions Nathan posted yesterday:

2.5 cup very fine semolina

.5 cup ap flour

pinch of ground saffron

1 cup lukewarm water

I have done it in the past and it was great. I wonder if the flour could have been old? I got it bulk at our local organic store - maybe not much use for such flour here. Could old flour cause this to happen, I wonder?

[Kevin72]

Dessert was from the De Blasi book, Sebadas Olienese.  I don't know, I'm sure I am "ordering" wrong to date but I have yet to make an Italian dessert that blows me away.  They are all very nice, go well to finish the meal either with coffee or fortified wine etc. but not spectacular.  I'll keep looking!

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Just wait til we get to Sicily. You'll be desserted out for sure!

The local language, Sardo, is an officially recognized language and would be a superb language for playing Scrabble: porceddu, carraxiu…we are talking big bonus points here! 

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I've got to tell my wife about that one!

Great writeup as always, thank you for the information.

I think you're exaggerating a little about not participating in trade, though. In order for people to have a saying that those who come from the sea are here to steal, doesn't someone somewhere along the line have to have had dealings with people from overseas?

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This kind of syncs up with what I've read about the tradition of the Sardinian natives living inland and not populating the coast much; they were subject to frequent pirate raids and thus the saying could be taken quite literally.

[Kevin72]

Seems like we often get a little synchonicity going in these threads and all hit on one dish at once. For my inaugural Sardinian meal, I joined the malloreddus club:

The whole meal was from Ada Boni's cookbook.

For this recipe, though, I subbed 1 cup AP flour instead of going all semolina; I have experienced problems in the past when making thick, stubby pasta with all semolina. Even so, Shaya, I found these to still be a little . . . "toothsome".

Here they are sauced with a tomato and mint sauce, topped with coarsely grated pecorino "al pastore"; they didn't have any Sardo this time.

I gotta say that despite the overly firm outcome, these are remarkably quick, easy, and fun to prepare. I had been worried that since I got a late start on dinner we'd be eating really late, thinking that it'd take me an hour just to roll these out, but they were quite cooperative and done in just a matter of a few flicks.

Two more items from Boni for the main and contorno; pork and boar chops with a sweet and sour sauce and baked zucchini:

The zucchini were, as with the stuffed zucchini I made in Liguria, blanched whole, then cut in half. They were then topped with roasted peppers, tomato sauce, anchovies, and feta. I read somewhere that feta is actually used in Sardinian cooking, giving me a chance to use one of my favorite cheeses, sheep's milk feta.

In the sweet and sour sauce: vinegar, chocolate, sugar, prunes, raisins, cinnamon. My wife said it tasted like a barbecue sauce and that I needed to find another excuse to use this, soon.

[Pontormo]

Another traditional method of cooking meats is pit roasting or “incarralzadu”.  In this method, after the pit is dug, it is lined with myrtle leaves, the animal is placed in the pit and then covered with more myrtle branches. Finally a fire is lit on top and the animal is slow roasted.  One description of this cooking method also describes what goes on while the animal cooks: “around which chants and dances accompany the drinking until the pig is cooked.”  Some things just never change, sounds like a modern barbecue to me.

“Zurrette” is a curious dish from the Bargaia region.  It’s a sheep blood pudding, where the blood is flavored with herbs and cheese, put into the sheep stomach, sealed and then either steamed or roasted until the blood becomes a semi-solid ‘pudding’.  Sort of sounding like haggis to me…..

A Ligurian influence is felt in the popularity of ‘panadas’ or meat pies.

As usual, Hathor, your wicked sense of humor infuses your prose. Thanks.

I'm interested in the pit-roasting especially since it evokes one memorable hiking trip in Girl Scout camp (meets Lord of the Flies) and New England clambakes. I wonder how extensive the practice is in Italy or how far back it can be traced. Andrew? I know classical archaeologists find seeds, etc. during digs, but are there signs of deliberate burial of animal parts, bones charred with traces of myrtle? Far from altars?

As for the blood pudding, one thing that I believe I read in Del Conte is that chocolate is mixed in. Please excuse this morning's propensity for associations, but this sounds a bit like the chocolate filled & glazed eggplant timbale of Naples. Arab roots?

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Anna Del Conte divides the cuisine of Sardinia into coastal and inland practices, arguing the two do not mix.

And Pan, I think Hathor was referring exclusively to the lack of interest that medieval Sardinians displayed in venturing far asea. Depending upon your definitiion of the medieval period, that represents a time span of more than a millennium, so who knows if conflicting evidence of some journeys survives? A land that suffers one invasion after another may develop a strong dose of xenophobia.

Shaya: I am so sorry about the fate of your beautiful pasta. You said that you've had success in the past, but I wonder if the semolina grains weren't fine enough.

And finally, while scrolling below to check previous posts, I now see Kevin's pictures, including the zucchini I intend to make tonight (ADC calls Sardinian feta "fetta" and says it's virtually identical to the Greek cheese), also from the same source if with mozzarella, red vs. yellow peppers and golden & green squash.

I'm glad to see the malloreddus turned out well with adjustments to the recipe. They also look perfectly formed...I see the tip of the coveted mold there on the left, Kevin.

Edited June 5, 2006 by Pontormo (log)

[hathor]

Shaya, your formula looks perfectly ....normal, average. I'm wondering, along with Pontormo and Kevin, if the semolina grains may have been too large, or if a little blending would have helped. The other comment is that when I've made that type of pasta, I use a thinner "base". Meaning that the little pea that you use to roll on the board, you press it so hard that you almost press thru the pasta, you feel a bit of warmth from the friction and your thumb either starts to hurt or you have a nicely developed callus. Does that make sense? They don't end up looking as beautiful and uniform as yours, however.

Last night we had a Sardinian inspired "agnello humido". Basically a braised leg of lamb with lots of spices (juniper, allspice, cinnamon etc), served over a basic cheese ravioli with sheep milk ricotta and chopped mint. Tasted good. Seriously funky looking!

[Sunny Simmons Steincamp]

I wish the lobster lasagne one was not expired. Sounds tasty.

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Here's Mario's Lasagna Sarde With Lobster, Tomatoes And Saffron recipe. I think it's the expired one you were hoping to find? I made it for my Mom's birthday, after I got my first pasta roller. (I was a little late on the bandwagon of making my own, but have been making up for it ever since!)

Thank goodness I'm a recipe packrat.

2 spiny lobsters, 1 1/2 lbs. each, steamed 10 minutes and cooled

4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 medium red onion, in 1/8" julienne

2 ribs celery, in 1/4" pieces

1 medium potato, in 1/8" dice

2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced

1/2 lb. overripe tomatoes, in 1/2" dice

1 cup dry white wine

1 pinch saffron

1 lb. DeCecco fettucine

1/2 cup finely sliced chives

Remove lobster from shells and cut into 1/4-inch pieces.

Bring 6 quarts water to boil and add 2 tablespoons salt.

In a 12 to 14-inch saute pan, heat olive oil until smoking. Add onion,

celery, potato and garlic and saute until golden brown. Add tomatoes, wine

and saffron and bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer 1 minute. Cook pasta

according to package instructions and drain. Add lobster to tomato sauce in

pan and toss through. Add hot pasta to pan and add chives. Toss to coat and

serve immediately.

Yield: 4 servings

[FoodMan]

I wish the lobster lasagne one was not expired. Sounds tasty.

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Here's Mario's Lasagna Sarde With Lobster, Tomatoes And Saffron recipe. I think it's the expired one you were hoping to find? I made it for my Mom's birthday, after I got my first pasta roller. (I was a little late on the bandwagon of making my own, but have been making up for it ever since!)

Thank goodness I'm a recipe packrat.

2 spiny lobsters, 1 1/2 lbs. each, steamed 10 minutes and cooled

4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 medium red onion, in 1/8" julienne

2 ribs celery, in 1/4" pieces

1 medium potato, in 1/8" dice

2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced

1/2 lb. overripe tomatoes, in 1/2" dice

1 cup dry white wine

1 pinch saffron

1 lb. DeCecco fettucine

1/2 cup finely sliced chives

Remove lobster from shells and cut into 1/4-inch pieces.

Bring 6 quarts water to boil and add 2 tablespoons salt.

In a 12 to 14-inch saute pan, heat olive oil until smoking. Add onion,

celery, potato and garlic and saute until golden brown. Add tomatoes, wine

and saffron and bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer 1 minute. Cook pasta

according to package instructions and drain. Add lobster to tomato sauce in

pan and toss through. Add hot pasta to pan and add chives. Toss to coat and

serve immediately.

Yield: 4 servings

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Many thanks! So it is basically fettucine tossed with lobster sauce? no layering, baking and all that jazz??