{
  "slug": "malloreddus",
  "url": "https://nonnario.com/recipes/malloreddus/",
  "name": "Malloreddus alla campidanese",
  "english": "Sardinian ridged semolina gnocchetti with sausage, tomato and saffron",
  "aka": [
    "malloreddus a sa campidanesa",
    "gnocchetti alla campidanese",
    "gnocchetti sardi",
    "Sardinian gnocchetti",
    "malloreddus with sausage and saffron"
  ],
  "summary": "Sardinia's small ridged gnocchetti of durum wheat semolina, made by hand and dried for three days, dressed in the Campidano way with sausage, tomato, Sardinian saffron and grated Pecorino Sardo.",
  "essentials": [
    "Malloreddus are durum wheat semolina and lukewarm salted water; here a fifth of the dough is coloured gold with saffron.",
    "Ropes 5 mm thick cut into 1.5 cm pieces, each rolled under the thumb on a reed basket (su ciuliri) to ridge it.",
    "Dried on a floured cloth for three days, in the sun if possible, then cooked moderately al dente.",
    "The sausage is browned in olive oil and set aside; garlic, onion and tomato cook in its fat until thick.",
    "Bay, basil and Sardinian saffron go in at the end, the sausage last; finished with plenty of grated matured Pecorino Sardo."
  ],
  "diet": [],
  "region": {
    "slug": "sardegna",
    "name": "Sardegna",
    "url": "https://nonnario.com/regions/sardegna/"
  },
  "place": "Campidano di Cagliari",
  "coords": [
    39.385,
    9.045
  ],
  "course": {
    "id": "primi",
    "it": "Primi & Risotti",
    "en": "Pasta & Rice"
  },
  "level": {
    "id": "tradition",
    "name": "Documented tradition",
    "it": "Tradizione documentata",
    "description": "A regional tradition documented in cookbooks and local practice, with no single official text.",
    "url": "https://nonnario.com/method/#level-tradition"
  },
  "status": "checked",
  "published": "2026-11-02",
  "checked": "2026-11-02",
  "cooked": null,
  "pending": null,
  "provenance": {
    "by": "Sardinian tradition, Campidano di Cagliari",
    "reference": "Compared across 11 sources, listed below; this page publishes the most widely recognised version.",
    "year": null
  },
  "sources": [
    {
      "label": "Accademia Italiana della Cucina: gnocchetti alla campidanese (malloreddus a sa campidanesa) as made in the Campidano di Cagliari, from its recipe collection (Italian)",
      "url": "https://accademia1953.it/it/ricette/ricetta/gnocchetti-alla-campidanese"
    },
    {
      "label": "Accademia Italiana della Cucina: sugo alla campidanese (bagna a sa campidanesa), from its recipe collection (Italian)",
      "url": "https://accademia1953.it/it/ricette/ricetta/sugo-alla-campidanese"
    },
    {
      "label": "Accademia Italiana della Cucina: gnocchetti alle noci (malloreddus cun nuxis), from its recipe collection (Italian)",
      "url": "https://accademia1953.it/it/ricette/ricetta/gnocchetti-alle-noci"
    },
    {
      "label": "Regione Sardegna, SardegnaTurismo, the Region's official tourism site: the traditional hand-made pastas of Sardinia (Italian)",
      "url": "https://www.sardegnaturismo.it/it/fatte-mano-come-una-volta"
    },
    {
      "label": "La Cucina Italiana: malloreddus alla campidanese, 2016 (Italian)",
      "url": "https://www.lacucinaitaliana.it/ricetta/primi/malloreddus-alla-campidanese/"
    },
    {
      "label": "GialloZafferano: malloreddus alla campidanese (Italian)",
      "url": "https://ricette.giallozafferano.it/Malloreddus-alla-campidanese.html"
    },
    {
      "label": "Dissapore: malloreddus alla campidanese, by Nunzia Clemente, 2017 (Italian)",
      "url": "https://www.dissapore.com/ricette/malloreddus-alla-campidanese/"
    },
    {
      "label": "Official Journal of the EU, C 117 of 14 May 2008: the PDO Zafferano di Sardegna, summary of the application (Italian)",
      "url": "https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/IT/TXT/?uri=CELEX:52008XC0514(07)"
    },
    {
      "label": "Official Journal of the EU, C 318 of 1 November 2013: the PDO Pecorino Sardo, single document of the amended specification, approved by Regulation (EU) No 313/2014 (Italian)",
      "url": "https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/IT/TXT/?uri=CELEX:52013XC1101(03)"
    },
    {
      "label": "USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service: Leftovers and Food Safety (archived copy of 29 May 2025)",
      "url": "https://web.archive.org/web/20250529160018/https://www.fsis.usda.gov/food-safety/safe-food-handling-and-preparation/food-safety-basics/leftovers-and-food-safety"
    },
    {
      "label": "L'Unione Sarda: the Cagliari Castello delegation deposits the cordula recipe, 19 November 2022, p. 21, as hosted by the Accademia Italiana della Cucina (Italian)",
      "url": "https://www.accademiaitalianadellacucina.it/sites/default/files/Cagliari%20Castello_deposito%20ricetta.pdf"
    }
  ],
  "story": [
    "Malloreddus are the most widespread pasta of Sardinia, and perhaps its oldest: small ridged shells of semolina and water, called malloreddus in the Campidano, the island's largest plain, and cigiones around Sassari, macarones cravaos around Nuoro, chiusoni in Gallura and cassulli at Carloforte. The name is usually traced to the Latin mallolus, a morsel; another account takes it from the Sardinian malloru, a bull, so that malloreddus would be little calves. Each piece is ridged by rolling it under the thumb on a basket of woven reeds, su ciuliri. Dressed alla campidanese, with sausage, tomato and saffron, is the best known way to eat them, and the dish is often called the most representative of the island. The saffron is Sardinian: the Zafferano di Sardegna, protected by the EU as a PDO since 2009, is grown only in San Gavino Monreale, Turri and Villanovafranca, in the Medio Campidano. The cheese, Pecorino Sardo, has been a PDO since 1996.",
    "No official recipe has been published: the press reports that a recipe was deposited in the past by the Cagliari Castello delegation of the national culinary academy, but no date, deed or text of it could be found. We compared eleven sources and publish the most widely recognised version, as it is made in the Campidano di Cagliari: a pasta of semolina and lukewarm salted water, a fifth of it worked with saffron, ridged on the ciuliri and dried for three days; a sauce of sausage browned in olive oil, then tomatoes cooked in its fat with garlic and onion, finished with bay, basil and saffron. The sources agree on the sausage, the tomato, the saffron and the Sardinian pecorino; they differ on the pasta's saffron (in a part of the dough, in all of it, or only in the sauce), on how long to dry it (three days, one day, or not at all) and on the sauce, which some cooks make with white wine and others start with celery and carrot. The times, heat levels and sizes the recipe does not give are ours, and the tips say so."
  ],
  "serves": 6,
  "makes": null,
  "minutes": {
    "handsOn": 123,
    "cooking": 60,
    "resting": 4380,
    "days": 4
  },
  "plan": "Four days from start to table. Day 1: make the dough (about 30 minutes), rest it for more than an hour, then shape the malloreddus, the long part: about 750 g of dough makes well over a thousand pieces, 1½–2 hours for practised hands and up to 3 hours the first time. Days 1 to 4: they dry for three days, ideally in sun and dry weather. Day 4: the sauce takes about an hour; put the pasta water on while the tomatoes simmer, and cook the malloreddus only once the sauce is finished.",
  "equipment": [
    "A large, wide bowl (the xivedda), for mixing the dough",
    "Wooden pastry board, and a rolling pin",
    "Cling film or two upturned bowls, to cover the dough",
    "A small knife or a dough scraper, for cutting",
    "Su ciuliri, the Sardinian reed basket, for ridging (or a ridged gnocchi board, or a fork)",
    "Two or three clean cotton cloths and trays, dusted with semolina, for drying",
    "A wide, heavy pan (tegame) and a wooden spoon, for the sauce",
    "Large pot (at least 6 l) and a colander",
    "A grater for the pecorino, and a kitchen thermometer"
  ],
  "ingredients": [
    {
      "group": "For the malloreddus",
      "items": [
        {
          "quantity": 500,
          "unit": "g",
          "item": "durum wheat semolina (semola di grano duro)",
          "note": "fine semolina for pasta; re-milled semola rimacinata also works",
          "text": "500 g durum wheat semolina (semola di grano duro) (fine semolina for pasta; re-milled semola rimacinata also works)",
          "recipe": null
        },
        {
          "quantity": null,
          "unit": null,
          "item": "lukewarm water",
          "note": "Our guide: about 230 ml–250 ml at 35 °C–40 °C, added a little at a time; the semolina decides the amount",
          "text": "lukewarm water (Our guide: about 230 ml–250 ml at 35 °C–40 °C, added a little at a time; the semolina decides the amount)",
          "recipe": null
        },
        {
          "quantity": null,
          "unit": null,
          "item": "salt, for the dough water",
          "note": "Our guide: about 5 g, dissolved in the water",
          "text": "salt, for the dough water (Our guide: about 5 g, dissolved in the water)",
          "recipe": null
        },
        {
          "quantity": 1,
          "unit": "pinch",
          "item": "saffron threads, for the dough",
          "note": "for a fifth of the dough",
          "text": "1 pinch saffron threads, for the dough (for a fifth of the dough)",
          "recipe": null
        },
        {
          "quantity": null,
          "unit": null,
          "item": "durum wheat semolina, for dusting",
          "note": "a little, for the board and the drying cloths",
          "text": "durum wheat semolina, for dusting (a little, for the board and the drying cloths)",
          "recipe": null
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "group": "For the sauce",
      "items": [
        {
          "quantity": 300,
          "unit": "g",
          "item": "fresh Sardinian pork sausage (salsiccia campidanese)",
          "note": "fresh, not cured; elsewhere, a coarse fresh pork sausage",
          "text": "300 g fresh Sardinian pork sausage (salsiccia campidanese) (fresh, not cured; elsewhere, a coarse fresh pork sausage)",
          "recipe": null
        },
        {
          "quantity": 1,
          "unit": "kg",
          "item": "tomato passata",
          "note": "or the same weight of fresh ripe tomatoes, peeled and chopped",
          "text": "1 kg tomato passata (or the same weight of fresh ripe tomatoes, peeled and chopped)",
          "recipe": null
        },
        {
          "quantity": 100,
          "unit": "ml",
          "item": "extra virgin olive oil",
          "note": null,
          "text": "100 ml extra virgin olive oil",
          "recipe": null
        },
        {
          "quantity": 1,
          "unit": "clove",
          "item": "garlic",
          "note": "lightly crushed",
          "text": "1 clove garlic (lightly crushed)",
          "recipe": null
        },
        {
          "quantity": 1,
          "unit": "pc",
          "item": "small onion",
          "note": "finely chopped",
          "text": "1 small onion (finely chopped)",
          "recipe": null
        },
        {
          "quantity": 1,
          "unit": "pc",
          "item": "bay leaf",
          "note": null,
          "text": "1 bay leaf",
          "recipe": null
        },
        {
          "quantity": 3,
          "unit": "pc",
          "item": "basil leaves",
          "note": null,
          "text": "3 basil leaves",
          "recipe": null
        },
        {
          "quantity": 1,
          "unit": "pinch",
          "item": "Sardinian saffron threads, for the sauce",
          "note": "sold under its name as Zafferano di Sardegna PDO, grown in San Gavino Monreale, Turri and Villanovafranca",
          "text": "1 pinch Sardinian saffron threads, for the sauce (sold under its name as Zafferano di Sardegna PDO, grown in San Gavino Monreale, Turri and Villanovafranca)",
          "recipe": null
        },
        {
          "quantity": null,
          "unit": null,
          "item": "salt",
          "note": "to taste",
          "text": "salt (to taste)",
          "recipe": null
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "group": "To cook and serve",
      "items": [
        {
          "quantity": 120,
          "unit": "g",
          "item": "Pecorino Sardo PDO, matured (maturo)",
          "note": "grated just before serving",
          "text": "120 g Pecorino Sardo PDO, matured (maturo) (grated just before serving)",
          "recipe": null
        },
        {
          "quantity": null,
          "unit": null,
          "item": "water, for the pasta",
          "note": "about 5 l",
          "text": "water, for the pasta (about 5 l)",
          "recipe": null
        },
        {
          "quantity": null,
          "unit": null,
          "item": "salt, for the pasta water",
          "note": "about 10 g per litre",
          "text": "salt, for the pasta water (about 10 g per litre)",
          "recipe": null
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "method": [
    {
      "phase": "Day 1: the dough",
      "intro": "In the Campidano the dough is made in two phases with their own names: cummossai, mixing the semolina with the water in the xivedda, the bowl, and ciuexi, the long working on the board that makes it soft. The amount of water, its temperature, the times and the sizes of the sheet are ours.",
      "steps": [
        {
          "n": 1,
          "url": "https://nonnario.com/recipes/malloreddus/#step-1",
          "title": "Warm and salt the water",
          "text": "Warm about 250 ml of water until lukewarm, 35 °C–40 °C, and dissolve about 5 g of salt in it. Put the pinch of saffron threads for the dough in a small cup with a teaspoon of the warm water and leave it to soak while you mix.",
          "kind": "active",
          "minutes": 3,
          "celsius": 38,
          "heat": null,
          "official": false,
          "check": "The water feels just warm on the inside of your wrist, not hot.",
          "tips": [
            "Our guide: the saffron only needs to be moistened, not covered; a teaspoon of water is enough to wake its colour."
          ]
        },
        {
          "n": 2,
          "url": "https://nonnario.com/recipes/malloreddus/#step-2",
          "title": "Mix the dough (cummossai)",
          "text": "Pour the 500 g of semolina into the wide bowl and make a well in the middle. Pour in the salted water a little at a time, drawing the semolina in with your fingers, until it comes together into a dough that is firm, but not too firm. Stop adding water as soon as it does.",
          "kind": "active",
          "minutes": [
            5,
            8
          ],
          "celsius": null,
          "heat": null,
          "official": false,
          "check": "One firm mass with no dry semolina left in the bowl; it gives a little under a firm press and does not crumble.",
          "tips": [
            "Our guide: 500 g of semolina usually takes 230 ml–250 ml. Keep the last 20 ml back and add it only if the dough stays crumbly; semolinas differ.",
            "A dough that is too wet sticks to the basket and loses its ridges; one that is too dry cracks when you roll the ropes."
          ]
        },
        {
          "n": 3,
          "url": "https://nonnario.com/recipes/malloreddus/#step-3",
          "title": "Roll and fold three times (ciuexi)",
          "text": "Shape the dough into a ball and move it to the board. Roll it under your palms into a long oval, then fold it so the two ends meet in the middle. Do this three times in all.",
          "kind": "active",
          "minutes": 5,
          "celsius": null,
          "heat": null,
          "official": false,
          "check": "The dough holds together without cracks at the folds.",
          "tips": []
        },
        {
          "n": 4,
          "url": "https://nonnario.com/recipes/malloreddus/#step-4",
          "title": "Roll out and fold until soft",
          "text": "Flatten the dough with the rolling pin into a thin sheet, about 3 mm. Turn it over, fold it over on itself and roll it out again. Repeat several times, until the dough is soft.",
          "kind": "active",
          "minutes": [
            8,
            10
          ],
          "celsius": null,
          "heat": null,
          "official": false,
          "check": "Smooth, soft and elastic: a fingertip pressed in leaves a dent that slowly fills again.",
          "tips": [
            "Our guide: six to eight times is usually enough. If the dough tears, rest it for 5 minutes under a bowl and go on."
          ]
        },
        {
          "n": 5,
          "url": "https://nonnario.com/recipes/malloreddus/#step-5",
          "title": "Colour a fifth with saffron",
          "text": "Cut off a fifth of the dough (about 150 g). Flatten it, put the soaked saffron and its water in the middle and work it in, folding and pressing, until the colour is even.",
          "kind": "active",
          "minutes": 5,
          "celsius": null,
          "heat": null,
          "official": false,
          "check": "An even golden yellow, with no darker streaks and no pale patches.",
          "tips": [
            "If the extra water makes it sticky, work in a pinch of semolina."
          ]
        },
        {
          "n": 6,
          "url": "https://nonnario.com/recipes/malloreddus/#step-6",
          "title": "Rest the two doughs",
          "text": "Shape the plain dough and the saffron dough into two separate balls, cover them with cling film or upturned bowls and leave them for more than an hour at room temperature.",
          "kind": "rest",
          "minutes": [
            60,
            90
          ],
          "celsius": null,
          "heat": null,
          "official": false,
          "check": "Both feel softer and more supple than before the rest.",
          "tips": []
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "phase": "Day 1: shaping the malloreddus",
      "intro": "The plain and the saffron dough are shaped the same way, so the finished dish has pale and golden pieces. Keep the dough you are not working covered all the time.",
      "steps": [
        {
          "n": 7,
          "url": "https://nonnario.com/recipes/malloreddus/#step-7",
          "title": "Roll a rope",
          "text": "Pinch off a small piece of dough and roll it under your fingers on the board into a rope half a centimetre across (5 mm).",
          "kind": "active",
          "minutes": 1,
          "celsius": null,
          "heat": null,
          "official": false,
          "check": "Even thickness all along the rope.",
          "tips": [
            "Dust the board only very lightly, or not at all: the dough needs to grip the wood to roll."
          ]
        },
        {
          "n": 8,
          "url": "https://nonnario.com/recipes/malloreddus/#step-8",
          "title": "Cut the pieces",
          "text": "Cut the rope into little cylinders 1.5 cm long.",
          "kind": "active",
          "minutes": 1,
          "celsius": null,
          "heat": null,
          "official": false,
          "check": "All the pieces the same length, so they cook evenly.",
          "tips": []
        },
        {
          "n": 9,
          "url": "https://nonnario.com/recipes/malloreddus/#step-9",
          "title": "Ridge each piece on the ciuliri",
          "text": "Lay a piece on the reed basket (su ciuliri, also called su xibiru) and press it with your thumb as you roll it over on itself, so it curls into a little shell with ridges on the outside. Lay each malloreddu on a cloth dusted with semolina, well apart from the others.",
          "kind": "active",
          "minutes": 2,
          "celsius": null,
          "heat": null,
          "official": false,
          "check": "A curled shell, hollow inside, ridged all over the outside, about as long as a fingernail is wide.",
          "tips": [
            "Press firmly enough to mark the ridges, not so hard that the dough flattens and tears.",
            "No ciuliri: a ridged wooden gnocchi board, or the back of a fork's tines, gives the same ridges with the same thumb movement."
          ]
        },
        {
          "n": 10,
          "url": "https://nonnario.com/recipes/malloreddus/#step-10",
          "title": "Shape the rest",
          "text": "Go on the same way with all the plain dough and all the saffron dough: rope, pieces, ridges, and onto the cloths, never touching.",
          "kind": "active",
          "minutes": [
            75,
            180
          ],
          "celsius": null,
          "heat": null,
          "official": false,
          "check": "All the dough is shaped and every piece lies apart from its neighbours.",
          "tips": [
            "Our guide: there are well over a thousand pieces. Practised hands take 1½–2 hours; the first time, allow up to 3. Two people at the board halve the time."
          ]
        },
        {
          "n": 11,
          "url": "https://nonnario.com/recipes/malloreddus/#step-11",
          "title": "Dry for three days",
          "text": "Leave the malloreddus to dry on the cloths for three days, in the sun if possible, and best in dry weather.",
          "kind": "rest",
          "minutes": 4320,
          "celsius": null,
          "heat": null,
          "official": false,
          "check": "Hard right through: a piece snaps cleanly in two, with no soft centre, and they rattle when you shake the tray.",
          "tips": [
            "Our guide: turn them gently once a day so they dry evenly underneath. On a wet day, or with no sun, dry them indoors in a dry, airy room, away from the stove; never in the fridge.",
            "Some cooks dry them for a single day, and others cook them fresh, as soon as they are shaped; fresh, they cook in a few minutes, until they float."
          ]
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "phase": "Day 4: the sauce",
      "intro": null,
      "steps": [
        {
          "n": 12,
          "url": "https://nonnario.com/recipes/malloreddus/#step-12",
          "title": "Brown the sausage",
          "text": "Cut the 300 g of sausage into pieces of about 1.5 cm–2 cm. Heat the 100 ml of olive oil in the wide pan over medium heat and brown the pieces until golden.",
          "kind": "active",
          "minutes": [
            6,
            8
          ],
          "celsius": null,
          "heat": "medium",
          "official": false,
          "check": "Golden on every side, with fat in the pan.",
          "tips": [
            "Our guide: spread them in one layer and turn them only when they release from the pan."
          ]
        },
        {
          "n": 13,
          "url": "https://nonnario.com/recipes/malloreddus/#step-13",
          "title": "Set the sausage aside",
          "text": "Lift the sausage out with a slotted spoon onto a plate and leave the fat in the pan.",
          "kind": "active",
          "minutes": 1,
          "celsius": null,
          "heat": null,
          "official": false,
          "check": null,
          "tips": []
        },
        {
          "n": 14,
          "url": "https://nonnario.com/recipes/malloreddus/#step-14",
          "title": "Soften the garlic and onion",
          "text": "Lower the heat. Add the lightly crushed garlic clove and the finely chopped small onion to the fat and cook them gently until blond.",
          "kind": "active",
          "minutes": [
            5,
            7
          ],
          "celsius": null,
          "heat": "medium-low",
          "official": false,
          "check": "The onion is soft, translucent and pale gold, not brown.",
          "tips": [
            "Stir often: burnt garlic turns the whole sauce bitter."
          ]
        },
        {
          "n": 15,
          "url": "https://nonnario.com/recipes/malloreddus/#step-15",
          "title": "Add the tomatoes",
          "text": "Take out the garlic clove and pour in the 1 kg of passata, or the peeled and chopped fresh tomatoes. Season with salt.",
          "kind": "active",
          "minutes": 2,
          "celsius": null,
          "heat": null,
          "official": false,
          "check": null,
          "tips": []
        },
        {
          "n": 16,
          "url": "https://nonnario.com/recipes/malloreddus/#step-16",
          "title": "Simmer until thick",
          "text": "Bring the sauce to a gentle simmer and stir it often with the wooden spoon until it thickens.",
          "kind": "passive",
          "minutes": [
            25,
            35
          ],
          "celsius": null,
          "heat": "low, uncovered",
          "official": false,
          "check": "Thick and glossy: a spoon drawn across the bottom of the pan leaves a path that closes slowly, and no watery layer forms at the edges.",
          "tips": [
            "Our guide: put the pasta water on now, so it is at a full boil when the sauce is finished.",
            "Fresh tomatoes give off more water than passata and take the longer time."
          ]
        },
        {
          "n": 17,
          "url": "https://nonnario.com/recipes/malloreddus/#step-17",
          "title": "Add the bay, basil and saffron",
          "text": "Add the bay leaf, the 3 basil leaves and the pinch of Sardinian saffron threads, and let the sauce cook for a few minutes more.",
          "kind": "passive",
          "minutes": 5,
          "celsius": null,
          "heat": "low",
          "official": false,
          "check": "The sauce has turned a warmer orange and smells of saffron.",
          "tips": []
        },
        {
          "n": 18,
          "url": "https://nonnario.com/recipes/malloreddus/#step-18",
          "title": "Return the sausage",
          "text": "Take out the bay leaf and the basil leaves. Put the sausage back with any juices from the plate and cook briefly, so the flavours come together.",
          "kind": "passive",
          "minutes": 5,
          "celsius": null,
          "heat": "low",
          "official": false,
          "check": "The sausage is hot right through, at least 75 °C at the centre on a thermometer.",
          "tips": [
            "Anything not eaten: within 2 hours of taking it off the heat, cool the sauce in shallow containers and put it in the fridge; use it within 3 days. Bring it back to the boil before eating."
          ]
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "phase": "Day 4: cooking and serving",
      "intro": null,
      "steps": [
        {
          "n": 19,
          "url": "https://nonnario.com/recipes/malloreddus/#step-19",
          "title": "Bring the pasta water to a full boil",
          "text": "While the sauce simmers, bring about 5 l of water to the boil in the large pot and salt it, about 10 g per litre. Wait for a full, rolling boil.",
          "kind": "passive",
          "minutes": [
            15,
            20
          ],
          "celsius": null,
          "heat": "high",
          "official": false,
          "check": "Big bubbles that do not stop when you stir.",
          "tips": []
        },
        {
          "n": 20,
          "url": "https://nonnario.com/recipes/malloreddus/#step-20",
          "title": "Cook the malloreddus",
          "text": "Tip in all the dried malloreddus, stir once so they do not stick, and cook them at a full boil until moderately al dente.",
          "kind": "passive",
          "minutes": [
            10,
            15
          ],
          "celsius": null,
          "heat": "high",
          "official": false,
          "check": "Bite one: tender outside, still firm at the centre, with no white, floury core.",
          "tips": [
            "Our guide: start tasting after 8 minutes; how long they take depends on how thick and how dry they are."
          ]
        },
        {
          "n": 21,
          "url": "https://nonnario.com/recipes/malloreddus/#step-21",
          "title": "Drain and dress",
          "text": "Drain the malloreddus well and mix them with the sauce.",
          "kind": "active",
          "minutes": 2,
          "celsius": null,
          "heat": null,
          "official": false,
          "check": "Every piece is coated, with sauce caught in the ridges.",
          "tips": [
            "Our guide: keep a ladle of the cooking water before you drain, and add a little if the sauce is too thick to coat the pasta."
          ]
        },
        {
          "n": 22,
          "url": "https://nonnario.com/recipes/malloreddus/#step-22",
          "title": "Finish with pecorino and serve",
          "text": "Grate the 120 g of matured Pecorino Sardo just before serving, dust it generously over the malloreddus and serve at once.",
          "kind": "active",
          "minutes": 2,
          "celsius": null,
          "heat": null,
          "official": false,
          "check": "Served hot, the cheese just melting into the sauce.",
          "tips": []
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "quick": [
    "Make a well of the semolina in a wide bowl and work in lukewarm salted water a little at a time, until the dough is firm but not too firm.",
    "On the board, roll it into a long oval and fold the ends to the middle three times, then roll it out thin and fold it over on itself several times until soft.",
    "Work a pinch of saffron, just moistened in warm water, into a fifth of the dough, and rest the two balls, covered, for more than an hour.",
    "Roll small pieces into ropes 5 mm thick, cut them 1.5 cm long and roll each under the thumb on the ciuliri to ridge it.",
    "Dry them, well apart, on a floured cloth for three days, in the sun if possible.",
    "For the sauce, brown the sausage pieces in the oil and set them aside; soften the crushed garlic and chopped onion in the fat, remove the garlic, add the tomatoes and salt, and simmer, stirring, until thick.",
    "Add the bay leaf, basil and saffron for a few minutes, take out the bay and basil and return the sausage briefly.",
    "Boil the malloreddus in plenty of salted water at a full boil until moderately al dente, drain well, dress with the sauce and dust with plenty of freshly grated matured Pecorino Sardo."
  ],
  "when": null,
  "keeps": {
    "text": "The sauce keeps in the fridge for 2–3 days and can be frozen for up to 3 months; thawed in the fridge, it has only what is left of those days. Fresh, undried gnocchetti can be frozen on a tray as soon as they are shaped, then bagged, and cooked straight from frozen.",
    "source": {
      "label": "GialloZafferano: malloreddus alla campidanese (Italian)",
      "url": "https://ricette.giallozafferano.it/Malloreddus-alla-campidanese.html"
    }
  },
  "variants": [
    {
      "name": "Malloreddus cun nuxis",
      "text": "With walnuts, as made in the Campidano di Cagliari: the same pasta, dressed with garlic browned in olive oil, then bay, parsley, walnuts pounded in a mortar and thin slices of fresh Pecorino Sardo.",
      "source": {
        "label": "Accademia Italiana della Cucina: gnocchetti alle noci (malloreddus cun nuxis), from its recipe collection (Italian)",
        "url": "https://accademia1953.it/it/ricette/ricetta/gnocchetti-alle-noci"
      },
      "recipe": null
    },
    {
      "name": "Malloreddus a casu furriau",
      "text": "Dressed with melted pecorino.",
      "source": {
        "label": "Regione Sardegna, SardegnaTurismo, the Region's official tourism site: the traditional hand-made pastas of Sardinia (Italian)",
        "url": "https://www.sardegnaturismo.it/it/fatte-mano-come-una-volta"
      },
      "recipe": null
    },
    {
      "name": "Malloreddus a mazza frissa",
      "text": "Dressed with a sauce made with cream.",
      "source": {
        "label": "Regione Sardegna, SardegnaTurismo, the Region's official tourism site: the traditional hand-made pastas of Sardinia (Italian)",
        "url": "https://www.sardegnaturismo.it/it/fatte-mano-come-una-volta"
      },
      "recipe": null
    }
  ],
  "variantOf": [],
  "usedIn": [],
  "mistakes": [
    "Adding all the water at once: pour it in a little at a time and stop when the dough is firm but not too firm.",
    "Laying the shaped malloreddus touching each other: they stick together as they dry.",
    "Cooking them half-dried: they cook unevenly. Dried for three days, they snap cleanly.",
    "Leaving the bay and basil in the sauce: they go in for a few minutes only and come out before the sausage goes back.",
    "Browning the garlic: it should only turn blond, and it comes out before the tomatoes go in."
  ],
  "abroad": [
    "Outside Sardinia, use a coarse fresh pork sausage; Sardinian sausage for this sauce is sometimes seasoned with aniseed.",
    "Pecorino Sardo PDO comes in two types, dolce (young, 20–60 days) and maturo (matured at least two months): ask for maturo.",
    "If Sardinian saffron is not to be had, use other good saffron threads; some cooks use a sachet of powdered saffron instead.",
    "Semola di grano duro is durum wheat semolina; re-milled semola rimacinata is sometimes labelled semolina flour."
  ],
  "image": "https://nonnario.com/assets/img/malloreddus.jpg",
  "video": "https://nonnario.com/assets/video/malloreddus.mp4?v=00b76f457f",
  "versions": {
    "page": "https://nonnario.com/recipes/malloreddus/",
    "markdown": "https://nonnario.com/recipes/malloreddus.md",
    "json": "https://nonnario.com/recipes/malloreddus.json"
  },
  "cite": "Cite the recipe's page and the month its sources were checked; for the official text itself, cite the document listed under its sources.",
  "license": {
    "name": "CC BY-NC 4.0",
    "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/"
  }
}