Wanderlust Travel Magazine (UK)
Eat this
More time on your hands then usual? Then get a taste of traditional Sardinia by having a go at cooking this saucy tomato-andegg-based pasta dish
Stories may differ, but if anyone should get the glory for pane frattau, it’s Sardinia’s shepherds. With the key ingredient being the crumbled leftovers of pane carasau (a traditional flatbread also known as ‘music paper bread’) taken from their saddlebags, it’s easy to see why this saucy tomato-and-egg mix is a moreish tribute to thriftiness.
Chef and food writer Letitia Clark, author of Bitter Honey: Recipes and Stories from the Island of Sardinia, agrees that the dish was born of ‘necessity and economy’, adding that shepherds would prudently dunk their broken bread in broth, smothering the shards in thick tomato sauce and rich cheese, then cook it with an egg on top, giving the recipe a starchy pasta-like texture. The ingredients are pleasingly simple, but if the traditional bread proves difficult to find, you can easily replace it with wafer-thin tortilla slices.
Although travellers are often drawn to the sunny beaches and cities of
Sardinia, the wild eastern coast is the place to be if you’re looking for a more authentic taste of this beloved dish. In the rural villages of Barbagia’s Nuoro province, shepherds still devour a plateful after their daily work treading ancient trails in the shadow of the Supramonte mountains, with the bread still being whipped up by local women in wood-burning ovens.
Like most places in Italy, Nuoro takes its food and wine seriously. In Oliena, pair pane frattau with the region’s high-quality wine, before exploring the latter’s origins at Cannonau’s lush but little-known vineyards. Or head to Gavoi to tuck into a bowl topped off with the area’s signature ingredient, Fiore Sardo pecorino cheese. Afterwards, do as shepherds do and walk it off – a hike through Gennargentu’s dense forests and deep gorges should do the trick.
“The Sardinians’ pride in their produce and cuisine is contagious. The emphasis on tradition and on the importance of eating well is even more pronounced here. Like all the best Italian food, Sardinian food is simple, generous and graceful; lacking in pretension – and also overlooked.”
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