Pardulas
Photo: Cedrello · CC BY 3.0

History

Pardulas, called casadinas in parts of the interior, are the Easter bake of southern Sardinia. The pastry is semolina worked with lard and water, rolled thin, cut into discs and pinched up around the filling in six or seven points so the top stays open. The filling is fresh sheep ricotta or a soft cheese, sugar, egg and saffron, which gives the crown its yellow colour, plus lemon or orange zest. Saffron has been grown in the Campidano plain north of Cagliari for centuries and is what separates a Sardinian pardula from any other ricotta tartlet. City pastry houses now bake them year round.

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Common allergens: Gluten, Dairy, Eggs

Make it at home

Yield Makes 20Hands-on 50 minTotal 1 hr 30 minDifficulty Intermediate

Ingredients

  • 300g durum wheat semolina flour
  • 50g lard, softened
  • 130ml warm water
  • 1 pinch salt
  • 500g fresh sheep ricotta, drained overnight
  • 150g caster sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 generous pinch saffron threads, ground and soaked in a spoon of warm milk
  • Zest of 1 lemon and 1 orange
  • 2 tablespoons semolina flour, for the filling

Method

  1. Work the flour, lard, salt and water into a smooth elastic dough and rest it, covered, for 30 minutes.
  2. Beat the drained ricotta with the sugar, eggs, saffron milk, zests and the 2 tablespoons of semolina until smooth and thick.
  3. Roll the dough as thin as you can and cut discs of about 9cm.
  4. Put a heaped spoon of filling in the centre of each disc, then pinch the edge up into six or seven points around it, leaving the top open.
  5. Set them on lined trays and bake at 180C fan for 20 to 25 minutes, until the pastry is set and the filling is domed and lightly coloured.
  6. Cool on a rack and dust with a little sugar, or brush warm honey over the crown if you want them sweeter.

Tip from the editors. Drain the ricotta overnight in a sieve. Wet ricotta weeps in the oven and the pastry points collapse.

Where to eat pardulas

Pardulas in Cagliari

Featured by TableJourney as a signature dish of Cagliari. See where to eat Pardulas in Cagliari or the Cagliari signature dishes guide.

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