At agriturismo “Il Muto di Gallura” we loved Zuppa Gallurese con ghisatu. It is a native dish from the world of Gallura within the North-West of Sardinia. It’s really the mix of two dishes.
Zuppa Gallurese is a form of savory bread pudding that’s baked within the oven and made with stale bread, mutton inventory, and cheese. To make correct Zuppa Gallurese you’ll need mutton inventory and two Sardinian cheeses: pecorino sardo (Sardinian sheep’s milk cheese) and casizolu (a Sardinian cow’s milk cheese that’s like unsmoked scarmoza). I did handle to accumulate mutton bones to make mutton inventory, however beef inventory or a mix of lamb inventory and beef inventory could possibly be substituted. Pecorino sardo is kind of simply out there right here, however I needed to substitute the casizolu with common unsmoked scamorza. The dish got here out simply as scrumptious as I remembered it from Il Muto di Gallura.
Ghisadu is the native title for a spezzatino (stew of diced meat) with tomatoes, wine, and aromatics. It was spelled as Ghisatu on the agriturismo, however Ghisadu appears to be the extra frequent spelling. They have been each superb by themselves, however collectively it was nice consolation meals.
The quantities are ample for a primo piatto for six to eight. The ghisadu can be served with out the zuppa as a primo piatto; in that case use just one can of tomatoes.
Elements
For the ghisadu
- 700 grams (1.5 lbs) stewing beef comparable to chuck
- 2 cans peeled tomatoes (400 grams/14 oz every), pureed with a blender or meals processor
- 1 onion, chopped
- 3 bay leaves
- 6 mirto berries (elective)
- 1 sprig rosemary
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- pinch of saffron threads
- 120 ml (1/2 cup) pink wine
- salt and freshly floor black pepper
- 4 Tbsp olive oil
For the zuppa gallurese
- about 300 grams (10 oz) stale white (Italian) bread, sliced
- about 300 grams (10 oz) pecorino sardo or different sheep’s milk cheese
- about 300 grams (10 oz) casizolu or unsmoked scamorza
- 3/4 to 1 litre (3 to 4 cups) mutton inventory, or lamb inventory blended with beef inventory, or beef inventory
- salt and freshly floor black pepper
For the mutton inventory
1 kilo (2.2 lbs) mutton bones (or beef bones and/or lamb bones)
- about 100 grams every of chopped onion, chopped celery, and chopped carrot (that is about 1 medium onion and the same quantity of celery and carrot)
- 1 bay leaf
- handful of recent parsley
- 2 sundried tomatoes, chopped
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
Directions for the mutton inventory
I doubled the recipe and made twice the quantity, freezing the half I didn’t want.
Preheat the oven at 190C/375F. Pat the mutton bones dry with paper towels. Place the bones in a big roasting tray, by which they will slot in a single layer. Drizzle 2 tablespoons of olive oil on high, and toss the bones to coat them throughout with a skinny layer of olive oil. Roast the bones for half an hour at 190C/375F. This roasting step is elective, however will give the inventory a deeper taste.
Place the roasted bones in a big inventory pot or stress cooker.
Deglaze the roasting tray with 1 litre (4 cups) of boiling water, and scrape with a picket spatula to get all the bits that obtained caught to the roasting tray. Don’t use chilly water, as a result of then the drippings within the roasting pan will solidify and also you gained’t have the ability to get all the taste out of the pan.
Add the water from the roasting tray to the inventory pot or stress cooker, and add all the remaining substances.
Cowl, carry to a boil, then decrease the warmth and simmer for 4 hours, or carry to stress and stress prepare dinner for two hours. Stress cooking isn’t solely quicker, however it would additionally get you a better yield of inventory (extra about that in this text).
The mutton inventory will must be filtered and the fats will must be separated out earlier than it is able to use.
Filter the mutton inventory with a sieve, discarding the solids.
Enable the mutton inventory to chill off, first to room temperature after which within the fridge. The fats will float on high and can solidify, so will probably be fairly straightforward to take it off with a spoon. Don’t discard the fats, however reserve it to grease the oven dish for the zuppa gallurese.
Directions for the ghisadu
The meat must be reduce in steaks of about 1.5 cm (1/2 inch) thick. Don’t reduce the meat into cubes at this level. Steaks are a lot faster and simpler to brown than cubes, as cubes would must be turned individually and can launch extra liquid, making it not possible to brown the meat with out boiling it first and thus drying it out.
Pat the meat dry with paper towels for higher browning. Season the meat with salt instantly earlier than searing, or no less than an hour earlier than. Salt will initially draw out moisture, however will probably be reabsorbed over time. Salt enhances the flavour growth of browning, so salting earlier than searing is healthier than after.
Brown the meat on each side over excessive warmth in 4 tablespoons of olive oil in a casserole or Dutch oven. The meat ought to stay uncooked on the within, however get a pleasant sear on the skin.
Take the meat out of the pan and put aside on a plate to chill. Add a chopped onion to the pan by which you seared the meat with out cleansing it first. Season the onions with some salt (this can assist to melt them with out frying them).
Stir the onions over medium warmth, scraping with a picket spatula to launch all the browned bits from the pan, till the onions are gentle and barely golden, about 10 minutes.
Place a pinch of saffron threads in a small bowl and canopy with sizzling water. Enable to face for a few minutes.
When onions are gentle and golden, add the bay leaves and rosemary, and stir for one more minute, having fun with the great aroma.
Add a minced clove of garlic, and stir for one more minute over medium warmth. Don’t enable the garlic to brown.
Deglaze with 120 ml of pink wine.
Add 6 mirto berries (if utilizing), and permit the wine to cut back by half to eliminate the alcohol.
Add 2 cans of peeled tomatoes, pureed in a meals processor or with a blender. (Use just one can if serving the ghisadu as a secondo piatto fairly than as sugo to serve over zuppa gallurese.)
Season with freshly floor black pepper.
Add the water with saffron.
Within the meantime, the seared meat ought to have cooled off sufficient to have the ability to deal with it. Switch the meat to a slicing board, and pour the juices that can have leaked out of the meat to the pan with the tomatoes. (These juices are proof that searing the meat doesn’t “seal within the juices”.)
Cube the meat. If you happen to seared it accurately, it must be uncommon on the within.
Add the diced meat to the pan.
Stir and convey to a boil, then cut back the warmth to a really gradual simmer.
Cowl and permit to simmer, stirring recurrently and topping op with sizzling water as wanted to maintain the meat lined, till the meat is tender. This could take 4 hours or extra. When the ghisadu is completed, style and regulate the seasoning with salt and freshly floor black pepper.
(I’ve been utilizing sous vide for stews like this, and I need to say that in comparison with sous vide, I discover this course of fairly tedious. It’s a must to hold tending the pot to verify it doesn’t burn or dry out, and to examine whether or not it’s finished already. And regardless of all of your efforts the meat may nonetheless prove dry or powerful. With sous vide you’ll be able to simply vacuum seal the meat with the sauce, put it within the sous vide at 74C/165F, and neglect about it for about 24 hours, and it’ll at all times come out excellent. So subsequent time I’ll do that sous vide once more.)
Directions for the zuppa gallurese
Preheat the oven to 200C/400F.
Use a number of the mutton fats that you simply reserved from the inventory to grease a 20 by 20 cm (8 by 8 inch) oven dish. Use butter or olive oil for those who don’t have the mutton fats.
Slice the bread into slices of barely 1 cm thick, about 1/3 inch. You must find yourself with sufficient slices to make three layers within the oven dish.
Grate the 2 cheeses, and add loads of freshly floor black pepper, then stir to combine within the pepper. The scamorza/casizolu will be tough to grate, so you can even chop it with a knife.
Place a layer of bread within the oven dish.
Cowl the bread with 1/3 of the cheese in an excellent layer.
Add a second layer of bread, the second layer cheese, a and a 3rd layer of bread.
Now drizzle mutton inventory everywhere in the bread. Add as a lot mutton inventory as wanted, however don’t let it overflow the oven dish.
End with a ultimate layer of cheese.
Bake the zuppa gallurese within the oven at 200C/400F for half-hour, or till the highest is golden brown.
Enable the zuppa to chill off for a few minutes earlier than serving.
Reduce the zuppa into rectangular servings, and function is or with ghisadu on high.
Wine pairing
A Cannonau di Sardegna (cannonau is the Sardinian title for grenache/garnacha) could be essentially the most acceptable pairing for this dish, however many different Italian reds will work very effectively.
