We had a wonderful time at B&B Monte Lora in San Vito where we had a cooking demonstration with Lilly: we learnt how to make culurgiones, Sardinian ravioli with mint, potatoes and pecorino cheese.
The dough is made with semolina. They have a lovely braided drop shape. And you can eat them either with a simple tomato sauce (fry some minced onion in olive oil and add canned or fresh tomato) or with melted butter, sage and parmesan cheese like the canederli.
Mint is just a great twist to these ravioli. I love it! And it is very interesting as it is a vegetarian meal. You can make lots of them then arrange them on a tray and freeze to have them harden separately. It is very convenient to do so.
If you visit Sardinia, I highly recommend you to stay at one of the Antichi Portali B&B of San Vito. These typical Sardinian houses are beautiful, the hosts welcoming and food is very tasty. There are lots of activities and beautiful places to visit in this area.
B&B Monte Lora belongs to the Antichi Portali association and offers cooking demonstrations of culurgiones, typical Sardinian ravioli. You will learn how to make them and then taste them over a nice dinner with other Sardinian specialties. Lilly and her husband also make their own cheese! You should really taste their delicious and freshly made ricotta cheese. And their melting-in-the-mouth grilled pork is just amazing.
For the culurgiones dough (makes around 32 ravioli, 4 mains)
- 250 g semolina
- 15 cl water
- 2 tsps salt
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 1/2 egg white
For the culurgiones filling
- 300 g potatoes
- 4 tbsps olive oil
- 5 leaves of fresh mint
- 1 garlic cloves
- 25 g of pecorino cheese (Italian sheep cheese)
- 25 g parmesan cheese
Prepare the culurgiones dough
First of all, mix the water and semolina together to make the dough. Add the oil, egg white and salt. You can either knead the culurgiones dough with your hands or in a stand mixer with the hook.
The quantity of water can vary depending on the semolina quality, so you should proceed progressively, adding water little by little.
Stop kneading when the culurgiones dough is even, smooth and not to sticky to be rolled out.
Then, let sit in a plastic wrap or cover with a damp cloth while you proceed with the filling.
Prepare the filling
First, peel and cook the potatoes in boiling water or steam them. Then mash them up into a puree.
Then, heat the olive oil slightly and add the minced garlic. Let infuse without frying.
Mix the mashed potatoes with the garlic and oil, the grated cheeses, the minced fresh mint and salt at your liking.
Make the culurgiones
Take a small piece of culurgiones dough and roll it out thinly.
I recommend you to use a pasta rolling machine; it would be easier. Use flour or semolina to prevent the dough from sticking.
Use a rounded cookie cutter of about 8 cm to cut some disks into the culurgiones dough. Put a tablespoonful of mint and potato filling in the center and close the culurgiones as followed:
Or you can make them the classic way. That is to say, on a ribbon of pasta, place a tablespoonful of mint and potato filling along the ribbon, every 5 cm. Then fold half the ribbon over itself. Remove any bubble of air inside the pasta dough curving your fingers around the balls of filling. Then cut the Sardinian ravioli. With a needle, drill a little hole in each ravioli to prevent them from bursting while in boiling water.
Cook the culurgiones into boiling water salted with coarse salt for about 3 minutes. They float when they are ready just like gnocchi or canederli.
