Malloreddus from Sardinia with Sausage Ragù

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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 rifle shots. 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 week's sausages come courtesy of the expert butchers at Donald Russell, just in time for BBQ week. We recommend enjoying this dish al fresco, if possible, closing your eyes and imagining a barbecue on Sardinia's exquisite Spiaggia Rosa, the pink beach. 

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