Sardinian Cuisine
Sardinian Pork & Fennel Pasta
Pork and fennel sausage in a creamy tomato sauce with white wine and parmigiano. My take on Sardinia's malloreddus alla campidanese.
- Prep
- 15 min
- Cook
- 40 min
- Serves
- 4
- Difficulty
- Easy
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History & Origin
Malloreddus, "little calves" in the Sardinian language for their plump shape, are the island's oldest pasta: small semolina shells rolled against a ridged basket, traditionally tinted gold with saffron, which Sardinians have cultivated since the Phoenicians traded along their coasts. In the fertile Campidano plain between Cagliari and Oristano, they met the local pork sausage, seasoned with the wild fennel that grows on every roadside. The result is the ragù called alla campidanese.
This was long a dish of celebration, served at weddings and village festivals when a pig was worth slaughtering, and every family in the Campidano still argues over the right ratio of saffron to tomato. Grated pecorino sardo goes on at the end and counts as the final ingredient rather than a garnish. Sardinia has four sheep for every three people, and the cheese finds its way into nearly everything.
Personal
I decided to try and cook this dish after having "Pork and Fennel Italian Sausage Gnocchi" at Gnocchi Gnocchi brothers (please don't sue me). I looked up the little blurb they added for the dish and began experimenting. I am almost definitely sure this dish could be made with very similar flavours a lot quicker and with a lot less cream, but here we are. Everytime I make it it varies slightly so don't be afraid to tweak the amounts and see what you like best!
Ingredients & Instructions
- If using the dried mushrooms, cover them with boiling water and leave them to soak while you start the sauce.
- Skin the sausages and break the meat into rough chunks. Brown well in a wide, heavy pan over medium-high heat, leaving some proper nuggets; the browning is where most of the sauce's flavour comes from.
- Add the garlic powder, onion powder, pepper, and fennel seeds and stir for a minute until fragrant.
- Pour in the white wine to deglaze, scraping up the browned bits, and let it bubble almost dry.
- If using the mushrooms, blend them with a splash of the beef stock until completely smooth; you want their flavour in the sauce without any chunks.
- Stir in the tomato paste and cook it out for a minute or two, then add the beef stock and the mushroom purée. Simmer until reduced by about half, 10 to 15 minutes.
- Add the cream (and the mushroom salt, if using) and simmer gently until the sauce is thick enough to coat a spoon, about 10 minutes. Taste; the parmigiano will add salt at the end, so hold back a little.
- Cook the pasta in well-salted boiling water until al dente; malloreddus are sturdy and take longer than you expect, 12-14 minutes for dried.
- Transfer the pasta to the sauce with a splash of its cooking water and toss for a minute or two. Off the heat, stir through the parmigiano and serve with more shaved over the top.
Notes
If you can't find malloreddus, cavatelli, orecchiette, or potato gnocchi all carry the sauce well. The fennel seeds do the heavy lifting with a plain supermarket sausage; if your sausages already have fennel in them, ease back to 1 tablespoon.