Malloreddus alla Campidanese with Sausage Ragù, Pecorino Cream & Parmigiano Reggiano

Story

Malloreddus, also known as gnocchetti sardi (‘small gnocchi from Sardinia), hail from the Italian island of Sardegna where they have made been made for special occasions for centuries. The diminutive of malloru (bull in Sardinian dialect), malloreddus means ‘fat little calves’. As tradition dictates, on the night of her wedding, a Sardinian bride will parade through town wearing silver jewellery with a large basket of malloreddus that she has made by hand. She is closely followed by her family until she reaches the doorstep of her betrothed, who scares off her entourage with rifleshots. The bride then enters, eating her malloreddus from the same plate as her new husband thus signalling the start of a happy and long-lasting marriage.

Those who hand-craft these little pearls of Sardinian cuisine follow a traditional process that involves cutting the pasta dough into cubes and pressing them against a ciuliri (a sieve or riddle traditionally made of straw). This is what creates their distinctive ridged conch-shaped form. Whilst they lend themselves to a variety of sauces, in true Sardinian fashion, we’ve paired our malloreddus with campidanese sauce, a traditional Sardinian ragù made with sausage, tomatoes and fennel seeds.

This dish has been created in partnership with Parmigiano Reggiano, an inimitably flavoursome cheese produced exclusively in the region of Emilia Romagna. It is 100% natural and is still produced in Italy today as it was 900 years ago using only milk, salt and rennet.  

Photo credit: Tim Atkins

Ingredients

Allergens in Bold and Underlined:

Menu Card

Nutrition