In the Sard dialect, the town of Villagrande is called Biddamanna. There, a vast parcel of Sard earth is su cumonale—owned by everyone of the community. Shepherds can pasture their sheep, townsfolk can collect wood for their fires, a family can cultivate a small orchard, a garden of vegetables. The Biddamannesi can walk kilometer after kilometer through forests, into the mountains, onto the moors, hunting, foraging, gathering, as they have done forever in this town with no walls, no fences. And, too, they cook for each other over great fires laid in the piazza near the village hall on feast days. Cauldrons of thick soups, mutton poached with wild grasses, and beautiful handmade pastas are offered with baskets of pane carasau and barrels of rough, purply cannonau. Though all Sards seem passionate about making packets of their food, these Biddamannesi seem more devoted, even, to the pursuit. They urge rough doughs into pouches and pillows plumped with all manner of savories and sweets, the bundles tumbled into gurgling oil or baked over wood embers or gently poached. Culingionis are raviolo-like pasta typically stuffed with bitter greens and an acidy, fresh ewe’s milk cheese or a paste of potatoes, nutmeg, cloves, wild mint, and pecorino. Though these are luscious, it is a half day’s ceremony to make them. Hence, I sometimes wrap the good potato paste in a crisp quilting of cheese pastry, a quickly done deed that gives up all the savor of the culingionis plus the prize of a gorgeous scent as the crostata bakes to crispness.

　　

Ingredients

serves 6 to 8

　　

The Potato Filling

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

　　1 large yellow onion, peeled and minced

　　2 fat cloves garlic, peeled, crushed, and minced

　　Zest of 1 large orange

　　1 1/2 pounds new red- or white-skinned potatoes, poached in sea-salted water until tender, drained, peeled, and mashed

　　Generous gratings of nutmeg

　　1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

　　Freshly cracked pepper

　　1 teaspoon fine sea salt

　　1 large egg, lightly beaten

　　2/3 cup just-grated pecorino

　　1/3 cup minced mint leaves

　　

The Pecorino Crust

2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour, plus additional as needed to roll out dough

　　1/3 cup coarse polenta

　　1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

　　2/3 cup just-grated pecorino

　　7 ounces sweet, cold butter, cut into small pieces

　　1 large egg, beaten

　　6 tablespoons very cold dry white wine

　　

The Potato Filling

Step 1

In a small sauté pan over a medium flame, warm the olive oil and soften the onion, garlic, and orange zest for 5 minutes, permitting the mixture to take on some light color. Transfer the onion, garlic, orange zest combination to a large bowl. Add the mashed potatoes and the remaining ingredients, forming a well-amalgamated paste. Cover the paste and set it aside while you make the crust.

　　

The Pecorino Crust

Step 2

In a large bowl, combine the flour, polenta, salt, and pecorino. Using your fingertips or a pastry blender, cut the butter into the dry components until it resembles coarse crumbs. Combine the egg with the cold wine and stir the liquids into the flour mixture, constructing a rough dough.

　　

Step 3

Turn it out onto a lightly floured work space and gently, swiftly, work it into a smooth dough. Flatten the dough and cover it tightly in plastic wrap, covering the plastic wrap with a clean kitchen towel and leaving the dough to rest in the refrigerator for 1 hour or in the freezer for 20 minutes.

　　

Step 4

Over a lightly floured work space, roll out the dough into a free-form sort of circle of about 16 inches in diameter. Transfer the pastry to a parchment-lined baking sheet. The pastry will be too large to fit on the sheet but that will soon be remedied.

　　

Step 5

Place the potato filling in the center of the pastry, working it into a mound and leaving a 2-inch hem of pastry uncovered. Now lift the pastry hem and fold it over, pleating it a bit, covering about 2 inches of the filling. The less symmetric your form, the more homey and beautiful will be your crostata. Cover the crostata with a sheet of plastic wrap and set it, on its parchment-lined tin, to chill again in the refrigerator for 20 minutes.

　　

Step 6

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

　　

Step 7

Bake the crostata for 25 to 30 minutes or until the crust is deeply golden and the potatoes all golden and crisp.

　　

Step 8

Permit the crostata a 5-minute rest on a cooling rack, transfer it to a cutting board and carry it to table, cutting it into fat wedges. Present it as a first course, to be eaten warm between sips of good red wine.

　　A Taste of Southern Italy