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A
taste of Sardinia
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Goblets
good enough to eat? Pasta for desert? Have you a
sweet tooth but no time to make your favourite cakes
and buns? Join us on our culinary tour of Sardinia.
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It's a rare thing nowadays to eat a home-made cake
and few of us have the time to bake the traditional
goodies that our mothers and grandmothers prepared
at times like Easter and Christmas. Thankfully,
however, there are still some places where tradition
holds strong. We take a trip to Sardinia,
and taste some delicious Easter cakes.
A kaleidoscope of cakes
 The
first things we come across are the visually stunning
Candelaus: mouth-watering pastries shaped
like goblets, shoes and birds and decorated with
gold icing. We're still in time to taste the scrumptious
cakes made for Carnival: sas Origliettas
- nests of finely braided pastry which are then
fried and topped with honey and Zipulas,
sugar-coated fritters. We then head off to Oristano
to sample a local speciality, Su Mustazzolu,
a lemon-flavoured yeast cake which is left to rise
for up to 20 hours before baking.
A nibble in Nuoro
 Before
leaving Oristano we get the chance to nibble on
some Amaretti biscuits. A delicious concoction
of sweet and bitter almonds, sugar and egg white.
We then go to Nuoro, home of one of Sardinia's best-loved
sweets - the famous Torrone di Tonara, a
nougat made from honey, dried fruit, nuts and egg
white. Nuoro is also known for its Seadas
or Sebadas. Sebadas look like giant
ravioli and are made from fresh cheese, grated lemon
rind and sugar. They are then fried in olive oil
and sprinkled with honey or sugar. Another culinary
delight from Nuoro is S'Aranzada, a desert
made from candied orange peel, honey and almonds,
served on lemon tree leaves and decorated with silver
sugar balls
Almonds, almonds everywhere
Next stop is near Sassari where we treat ourselves
to some Sospiri di Ozieri: little almond-flavoured
balls covered in icing or chocolate. We then set
off for Berchiddu, home of the jazz musician Paolo
Fresu, where baker's ingredients such as Sapa
(a mulled wine concentrate) and S'Abbamele
(a flavoured honey) are made. Sapa is used when
making Pabassinos or Pabassinas -
biscuits made from almonds, nuts, lard and raisins
which are often iced and decorated with hundreds
and thousands. It's also an essential ingredient
in Su Pane 'e Saba - a sweet bread stuffed
with the ever present almonds, walnuts and orange
peel.
We finish off our trip with a plateful of Casadinas
or Pardulas, commonly known as Formaggelle:
little nests of pastry filled with ricotta, sugar
and raisins.
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MARIA
LINARDI |
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March
2001
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THE SURVIVOR'S 
