Zuppa Gallurese con Ghisadu – Stefan’s Connoisseur Weblog

At agriturismo “Il Muto di Gallura” we loved Zuppa Gallurese con ghisatu. It is a native dish from the realm of Gallura within the North-West of Sardinia. It’s truly the mix of two dishes.

Zuppa Gallurese is a type 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 amass mutton bones to make mutton inventory, however beef inventory or a combination of lamb inventory and beef inventory may very well be substituted. Pecorino sardo is sort 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 widespread spelling. They have been each superb by themselves, however collectively it was nice consolation meals.

The quantities are enough for a primo piatto for six to eight. The ghisadu will also 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 akin 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) crimson 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 contemporary 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, during which they will slot in a single layer. Drizzle 2 tablespoons of olive oil on prime, 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 wood spatula to get all the bits that bought 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 be capable of 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 components.

Cowl, convey to a boil, then decrease the warmth and simmer for 4 hours, or convey to stress and stress prepare dinner for two hours. Strain cooking shouldn’t be solely quicker, however it would additionally get you a better yield of inventory (extra about that in this text).

The mutton inventory will should be filtered and the fats will should 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 prime and can solidify, so it will likely 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 minimize in steaks of about 1.5 cm (1/2 inch) thick. Don’t minimize the meat into cubes at this level. Steaks are a lot faster and simpler to brown than cubes, as cubes would should be turned individually and can launch extra liquid, making it unattainable 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 a minimum of an hour earlier than. Salt will initially draw out moisture, however it will likely be reabsorbed over time. Salt enhances the flavour growth of browning, so salting earlier than searing is best than after.

Brown the meat on either 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 during 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 wood spatula to launch all the browned bits from the pan, till the onions are tender 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 tender and golden, add the bay leaves and rosemary, and stir for one more minute, having fun with the good 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 crimson 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 somewhat 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 reducing board, and pour the juices that may 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. For those who seared it accurately, it must be uncommon on the within.

Add the diced meat to the pan.

Stir and produce to a boil, then scale back the warmth to a really sluggish simmer.

Cowl and permit to simmer, stirring commonly and topping op with sizzling water as wanted to maintain the meat coated, till the meat is tender. This could take 4 hours or extra. When the ghisadu is finished, style and modify the seasoning with salt and freshly floor black pepper. Take away and discard the bay leaf and mirto berries (if utilizing).

(I’ve been utilizing sous vide for stews like this, and I have to say that in comparison with sous vide, I discover this course of somewhat 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 accomplished already. And regardless of all of your efforts the meat may nonetheless prove dry or powerful. With sous vide you may simply vacuum seal the meat with the sauce, put it within the sous vide at 74C/165F, and overlook 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 just reserved from the inventory to grease a 20 by 20 cm (8 by 8 inch) oven dish. Use butter or olive oil if you happen to don’t have the mutton fats.

Slice the bread into slices of barely 1 cm thick, about 1/3 inch. It is best to 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 could be troublesome to grate, so you may as well chop it with a knife.

Place a layer of bread within the oven dish.

Cowl the bread with 1/3 of the cheese in a good layer.

Add a second layer of bread, the second layer cheese, a and a 3rd layer of bread.

Now drizzle mutton inventory all around the bread. Add as a lot mutton inventory as wanted, however don’t let it overflow the oven dish.

End with a remaining 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 prime.

Wine pairing

A Cannonau di Sardegna (cannonau is the Sardinian title for grenache/garnacha) could be probably the most applicable pairing for this dish, however many different Italian reds will work very properly.


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