5* MEALS ON WHEELS
Private chef Stefano Shardana cooked up a storm at The Mystery Diner’s home, with our reviewer revelling in a remarkable culinary and cultural extravaganza
Private chef Stefano Shardana pays a visit to the Mystery Diner's home to cook up a storm
Since the lockdown most restaurants have reopened, but many people remain worried about the prospect of being packed in cheek by jowl. So if you want to have a celebration meal, or simply entertain friends without having to cook. a private chef is the perfect solution.
So it was that one quiet Sunday evening Stefano Shardana materialised in my kitchen to cook what turned out to be less a simple dinner, more a gastronomic tour de force. Nor was it the usual Italian fare we had expected. Instead we got an unexpectedly profound cultural experience because a night with Stefano isn’t just about the food – important though that might be – it’s about the culture and history of his native Sardinia as expressed through food and drink.
His native island has a separate language (in fact five languages), its own grape varieties for making wine, and fantastically rich culinary traditions. Once you appreciate that its capital, Cagliari, is significantly closer to Tunis than Rome (Sardinia was once a colony of Carthage, the precursor of Tunis) then it’s easy to see why its food is so different to that of mainland Italy.
Stefano trained in traditonal Italian cuisine in Parma and has worked for Michelin-starred restaurants on the mainland and in the Alps, so he knows his Elizabeth David, but our menu was dominated by island fare. Sadly the most popular Sardinian speciality of suckling pig roasted under a fire was not available, but the Sardinian dishes still came thick and fast.
This wasn’t completely obvious initially, with wonderful canapes that had mere island flourishes. So, we started with gravadlax and caviar with cream cheese on squid ink tart, Stefano’s sun-dried tomatoes, puff pastry with
Jerusalem artichokes, and smoked duck marinated in Maldon spicy salt and honey.
The cold meat and cheese platter was dominated by lamb, proscuitto, pork fillet, pork shoulder Sardinian style and served on pane carasau, the island’s traditional flatbread. Three of the four cheeses – smoked ricotta, pecorino romano, pecorino sardo, fiore sardo – are from Sardinia.
Next up was a beautifully light dish of seabass cured with honey and citrus and served with lime, lemon and grapefruit – majestic.
The pane zichi, a sort of stodgy, chewy Sardinian flatbread that is cooked like pasta and which Stefano served with sausagemeat and rosemary, was a new one on all of us.
So, too, was the next course of fregola, a pasta imported into Sardinia when it was ruled by Carthage. Think barley with a texture halfway between semolina and couscous, and served with crab, clams, prawns and samphire and you won’t go far wrong.
But beware – the pane zichi and fregola in successive courses are a hefty proposition, especially when followed by a rossini fillet steak topped with a slab of fois gras and bathed in a super-rich truffle and fois gras sauce. Even my gout was worried.
We rounded off with two Sardinian puddings: parfait with nougat, and seadas (sweet pastries filled with pecorino and lemon zest, then deep-fried and drizzled with honey), washed down with Mirto Rosso, a local liquer made from myrtle berries.
It was as good as it was novel, so try and find some good Sardinian wines. Oh, and have the Alka Seltzer handy and keep the next day free...