The Sardinian Kitchen

Orange zest candies - Aranzada

Today I want to share with you the recipe for Aranzada, a typical dessert from Sardinia, my region in Italy.

I come from a tiny village in the East coast of Sardinia that is famous for its oranges, generally the second week of April there is the famous “Oranges festival”. I took some images a long time ago during the event, if you love citrus fruits and you want to know more click Here.

Oranges are in season right now, so I thought to take this opportunity to make these zingy sweet bites made from orange peel, honey and almonds. For the orange zest to lose its bitterness, you need a bit of advance preparation. You must soak the skins one day before or to achieve best results, a few days in advance. 

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Makes 8 aranzadas

Preparation time: 10minutes + a few days soaking

Cooking time: 20 minutes

INGREDIENTS

50g unwaxed orange peel
(around 6 oranges)

40g peeled almonds

15g caster sugar

60g honey

INSTRUCTIONS

First thing with a potato peeler peel the oranges making sure you will remove the white pith.

Thinly cut the peel into strips, mine were about 3mm wide and 5mm long.  Allow them to soak in warm water overnight or for a few days for best result.

Change the water at least twice a day. 

Drain the orange peel and pat dry them. 

Preheat the oven to 180ºC.

Roughly chops the almonds into even-sized pieces. Spread them on a baking tray and toast them in the oven for  5 minutes.

In a large pot heat up the sugar and honey. Keep stirring until it is brown and it coats the back of a spoon. When it reaches a slightly stringy and sticky consistency it is ready. Pour in the orange zest and cook for 1 minute.

Stir in the almonds as well and quickly spoon it into small cake cases. You’ve got to be as fast as you can to avoid the mixture from cooling down completely and becoming rock hard.

Cassola. Sardinian Seafood Soup.  

If you are a seafood lover you can’t miss this seafood soup typical of my area in Sardinia, Italy.

With my family we generally cook a seafood based meal for NYE. Because of the pandemic, like many of us, I will not be able to spend time with them this year, but hopefully this comforting soup will bring you some warmth.

As we always do, Giulia and I cooked this main by making a few small changes in the list of ingredients, in order to offer a healthier alternative. However, the star of this dish was (typically) and still is seafood. Also following Giulia’s advice in terms of nutrition “Mollusks and crustaceans are a great source of proteins and minerals, especially if you compare them with the most popular protein-rich foods like chicken or beef. Prawns, for example, are high in an easily-absorbable form of selenium, an essential mineral that protects our body from free-radicals.
Mussels also contain good levels of selenium, zinc and other vitamins such as B12 and betacarotene. I really hope you love sea food as much as we do!

The first thing we added to this recipe in order to give this soup a small amount of fibre was celery. This vegetable is very low in calories, but full of health-promoting benefits such as antioxidants and anti-inflammatory compounds which have been seen to support the function of our heart and digestive system.

We then used red mullet a small-size fish instead of a big one such as sward fish, which is traditionally added to this dish. Small fish contain less mercury and toxins from the sea, so they are for sure a better option! (We decided not to add any oily fish to this soup as their distinctive strong flavour would overpower the delicate taste of the other ingredients).”

With our bellies full, we wish you a very relaxing New Year’s Eve and a positive start with the New Year.

Prep Time: 20 minutes + 2 hours to soak the clams and mussels

Cook Time: 40 minutes

Total Time: 60 minutes 

Serves 2

INGREDIENTS

1 small squid (160g)

6 tiger prawns (shell on)

200g mussels

300g clams

1 small red mullet (200g)

100 ml white wine

1 chilli

2 garlic cloves

400ml tomato passata

150g cherry tomatoes

a bunch of parsley

1tbs olive oil

1 celery stick

FISH STOCK

450ml water

prawn shells

red mullet bones

1 celery stick

1 garlic clove

1tbs olive oil

INSTRUCTIONS

To start we will be prepping our ingredients.

The first thing to do as soon as you buy the clams and mussels, is to place them in water for a couple of hours. This is done to help the clams release all the sand. Also if there are any open clams or mussels, lightly tap them to the side of the sink. If they do not close, discard them.

Clean the prawns by cutting the shells along the back slicing into the flesh a tiny bit too to expose the vein. Pull the vein out and rinse the prawn in water. Repeat the procedure for each prawn. 

Place the shells in a small pan that you will use to make a fish stock. 

If your fishmonger hasn’t filleted your red mullet then this is the time to do it. I suggest watching videos on the internet if you do not know how to fillet a fish. As a summary instruction, you must cut the head and tail of the fish. Then with a sharp knife slice along the back and keep slicing the rest of the flesh. You must feel that the flat part of the blade is rubbing against the bones underneath.

Keep the bones and place them in the same pan with the prawn shells. Add in the garlic clove peeled and sliced in a half and the celery stick with 1 tbsp of oil. Cook at high heat for 1-2 min until the shells have changed colour. 

Add in the water and 1/2 tsp of salt and bring to the boil. Then cook at low heat for at least 20-30min.

Start by cleaning your mussels by removing the “beard” often found hanging off the shell. Place the mussels in a colander in the sink and run water over them, using the tip of a knife to clean off any debris that could be on the shell. 

Drain the clams. Cut the squid into rings of 1/2 cm thick. 

Now in a large non stick pan. Heat up the olive oil, then cook the garlic, celery and chilli for 3 minutes. Pour in your clams and mussels. Cook for 2 minutes. Then add in the white wine. until it evaporates completely.

Cook at medium heat for a few minutes. Shake the pan a few times to help the clams and mussels to open. Mine started to open after just 4 minutes and were all open within 6 minutes.

If you find any stubborn ones that do not want to open, then wait an extra minute for them to open. Avoid opening them with a knife but just discard them instead if they stay closed.

Set the clams and mussels aside.

Now cook prawns, squid  and red mullet in the same pan with all the flavours of the mussels and squid. Cook for 2 minutes on each side for a total of 4 minutes and set aside. 

Pour the tomato sauce in the same pan where you cooked the fish, season to taste and cook for 5 minutes. If your fish stock is  ready then drain it with a fine sieve over the pan with the tomato sauce. Cook until you reach the consistency desired. I cooked mine for just about 10 more minutes.

Then place all the seafood back in to warm up for a further 2 minutes.

Sprinkle some parsley on the top and enjoy!   

TIPS:

This recipe can be simplified if your fishmonger does part of the job for you. Such as asking him to clean the squid and fillet the red mullet. But remember to keep the red mullet bones that you will use to make your fish stock. 

Alternatively if you want to save yourself some time, most of the fishmongers sell pre-made fish stock. 

Check that the clams and mussels you are buying are not closed or broken. 

The Sardinian Kitchen

Fregola with clams

I am really excited to post my second recipe from “The Sardinian Kitchen” series that I have recently created and tested for you.

When I think about food for celebration from home, I think about seafood. Now more than ever as it is not that easy to find good fresh seafood and also so expensive in London. So eating clams is really a treat reserved to special occasions.

Make sure you place the clams in a bowl with water as soon as you can. This will allow the clams to open and clean from any sand they might have.

Fregola is a special type of Sardinian pasta made with semolina flour and water. You can buy it online or if you have a deli near you then they might have it. If you want to prepare everything from scratch then follow my previous recipe for Fregola.

Feel free to write if you have any questions or to let me know how you get on!

INGREDIENTS

500g fresh clams

20ml olive oil

1 garlic clove

10g parsley

1 chilli

100ml white wine

400g plum peeled tomatoes

1 tsp salt

150g fregola

A bunch of fresh parsley to serve.

INSTRUCTIONS

The first thing to do as soon as you buy the clams, is to place them in water for a couple of hours. This is done to help the clams release all the sand. Also if there are any open clams, lightly tap them to the side of the sink. If they do not close, discard them.

Now peel the garlic clove and chop it really finely. Slice the parsley in a half along the long side. If you are not a big fan of spicy food, remove it from the recipe.

In a large pan heat up the oil with the garlic, parsley and chilli for 2 minutes. In the meantime, drain the clams and rinse them under the tap.

Add them into the pan. Bring the flames to a medium heat and place the lid on.

Shake the pan a few times to help the clams to open. Mine started to open after just 4 minutes and were all open within 6 minutes.

If you find any stubborn clams that do not want to open, then wait an extra minute for them to open. Avoid opening them with a knife but just discard them instead if they stay closed.

Now add in the white wine and wait for it to be completely evaporated.

Add in the fregola and 200ml of boiling water.

Cook for 5 minutes then add in the tomato sauce and season to taste.

My advice is to follow the instructions on the package to have a rough idea of the cooking times of your fregola. Although as timings on packages are not always accurate, by tasting it you will make sure that it is perfectly cooked. Mine was ready in about 20 minutes.

Sprinkle some fresh parsley on the top before serving.

Buon appetito!

The Sardinian Kitchen

Fregola

I grew up in Sardinia, a relatively small island in the Mediterranean sea. When I moved to London my first mission was to try and find ingredients and produce from home. Luckily almost everything I need is available in this big city. Certain things are a bit harder to find, so I had to be creative and cook things by myself. My passion for cooking ignited, so I actually tried some traditional recipes that are renown to be particularly long, such as this one.

This Sardinian staple resembles couscous, although the procedure to make them is quite different.

It comes in different sizes, small and big. The small balls are used traditionally to make minestra, the larger ones for minestrone, two different types of soups. Nowadays can be used to cook some delicious seafood or meat stews with tomato sauce.

The action of making these tiny balls I found quite soothing, I hope you will enjoy it!

Keep following this blog for more Sardinian and Italian inspired recipes.

Doses for 4 people

Preparation time: 1hour 

INGREDIENTS

250g coarse semolina flour

125ml warm water

INSTRUCTIONS

Traditionally Sardinians would use a very large circular terracotta bowl called “scivedda” to make fregula. Find a similar large bowl possibly made of terracotta. Place the water in a separate bowl. Pour 50g of semolina flour all around the bowl, then add in a few drops of water in the middle. 

Stir very slowly with your finger tips making circular motions all around the bowl, add a few more drops of water and keep stirring. Slowly sprinkle a  handful of semolina flour into the bowl and stir again. Repeat the procedure several times until many small balls of 3-5mm diameter form. 

Do not apply too much pressure or the balls will flatten. Keep it moist but not too wet.

Preheat the oven to 220ºC 

Rest the fregola balls in a tray covered with a table cloth for 15 min.

Separate the small balls from big balls and cook in two different trays for 10 min at for the big ones and 1min for the small ones.