How to Make A Sardinian Ciccioni Tomato Pasta Dinner

This Homemade Sardinian Semolina Ciccioni (Gnocchi) with an easy Sausage and Tomato Sauce was heavenly! Each golden “nugget” is a dumpling (gnocchi) made with semolina flour, and saffron (for color). The pasta is a little time-consuming to make, but it’s simple enough that even kids can do it!

I love Italian food.  My love of Italian food goes beyond pizza and spaghetti.  I have a longing to learn how to cook Italian food from the different regions of Italy.  I recently discovered Lida’s cooking show on my local PBS cable channel. I like her format of sharing recipes from Italy, which are intermingled with beautiful videos of her visiting the region from where her recipe originates.

I was intrigued by her episode on Sardinia, where she featured making a very simple pasta with two of her grandchildren!  Lidia explained each step so well, that she made  it look so simple.  I decided I was going to make this delicious looking dish. 

At the time of her show, I didn’t have any of her cookbooks (which is going to change).  Alas, this recipe was not posted on her website.  The sausage tomato sauce is very similar to how I make marinara sauce, so that was easy to “wing it” on my own.  As for the pasta– I had to rewind her show (I love DVR), pausing and trying to see the measurements on camera. I ended up guessing at the amount of water she used to make this very simple semolina flour “gnocchi”.   Spoiler alert: The recipe worked and it was delicious! Let me show you:

The key ingredients to make both recipes are whole Roma tomatoes (Lidia says that canned are just as good).  I used California grown San Marzano-Style tomatoes which are truly  flavorful.  Yes, I had Saffron.  I buy it at Trader Joe’s for a reasonable price (because it’s a small amount).  The saffron is to give a pretty golden color to the pasta.  The sauce is super easy to make:

Prep work goes pretty quickly. You’ll need minced onion, sliced fresh garlic, sausage, fresh basil, and red pepper flakes. It kills me to buy basil, but it’s too cold to grow it in my garden.  The whole tomatoes were pulsed in a food processor, but not pureed.  Now, to prepare the sausage…

You’ll need  sausage with casings removed.  I liked Lidia’s tip that adding a little white wine prevents the sausage from cooking in lumps.  So, that’s what I did– gently working the wine into the sausage. There, all the prep is done.

Heat olive oil in a Dutch Oven, and saute the onions until tender– just a couple minutes. Add 1/2 teaspoon of red pepper flakes.  You can add less, or none at all.  Lidia says she likes it, so I trusted her…
Push some of the cooked onion aside, and add a little more olive oil.

Add the garlic slices and shove that aside.  Add the sausage, and cook until no longer pink.

Add the tomatoes, a little more salt and fresh basil.  I didn’t chop the basil, because I will remove it before serving the sauce. (Cooked fresh basil turns dark, which isn’t very pretty.) Cover and simmer on low– mine simmered for about 1 1/2 hours. 

Time to make the pasta.  I’m not sure which is politically correct– Ciccione/gnocchi/dumplings. To make this pasta, you need Semolina Flour. 

I had no idea what the water to flour ratio was, but I guessed two parts flour to one part water..

The lower right photo shows a saffron thread going into the food processor.

I divided the water ratio. To the hot water, I added a pinch of saffron, stirring it with a spoon to release the yellow color.  If you don’t buy saffron, I am guessing you could use Turmeric.  The purpose behind using saffron is to give the pasta a deep golden color. Skip it, if you’d like.  I added 4 cups flour to the food processor. With the processor turned out, I slowly added 1 1/2 cups water and then 1/2 cup of saffron water.

I must’ve guess the water ratio right, because the dough came together, and I turned off the food processor. On a lightly floured surface, knead the dough a few times, then shape into a disk.  Wrap with plastic wrap, then place it into the refrigerator for an hour– which helps the gluten to relax.  The pasta sauce was simmering away, and smelling very good!

I could feel the difference in the dough, an hour later. It definitely felt more pliable.  Divide the dough into six pieces– then ask for help.  My husband did a great job– each piece was divided into three pieces, again.  Then he rolled it and cut them into small pieces. You want to sprinkle flour before cutting each piece.

My job was to roll each piece of dough. I used the back of a hard cheese microplane. Using my thumb, the dough easily rolled.  Success!  You can use your index finger– but I learned a couple of thing. 1) don’t make the pieces too large, because the pasta will double when it cooks. 2) you want flour on each piece– otherwise it can stick to the grater.  

Kids can definitely get it on the fun with making this. Craig sped up the process of doing this to 45 minutes, total.

Place the pasta on a clean towel, over a baking sheet and start a pot of water to boiling.

TIP: Place a baking sheet underneath a colander. Pull the corners of the towel and lift the pasta over a colander. Gently pour the pasta in– removing the towel. Shake the colander so that the excess flour falls onto the baking sheet. Voila!

Don’t  forget to add salt to the pasta water!  Add the pasta, which will float to the top. I guessed at cooking these for about 10 minutes…. I tested one, and it felt like it was properly cooked.

I wasn’t sure about the pasta to tomato sauce ratio, so I removed HALF of the tomato sauce.  A “spider” is one of my “must have” kitchen tools.  I carefully lifted the pasta with the spider from the water, and into the tomato sauce.  I decided to add the rest of the tomato sauce– feel confident the ratios would be perfect.

The kitchen smelled like Italy!  The sauce seemed a bit thin– but maybe it’s because I’m used to a marinara sauce that is made with crushed tomatoes.

TASTING NOTES:  We loved this!  While the tomato sauce was thinner that a traditional marinara sauce, it had plenty of flavor from the fresh basil and red pepper flakes. We liked the subtle heat of the spice.  The texture of the pasta was slightly chewy– like a dumpling.  There is a difference with fresh pasta, and I want to learn more!  This dish tasted fresh and healthy– you could reduce the fat by using turkey sausage.  This recipe got “five stars” from my husband.  He doesn’t do that very often.  I wonder if it’s because he helped make the pasta?  He says he loved the flavor of it.  It tasted excellent the next day.

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Sardianian Sausage Tomato Sauce & Ciccione (Gnocchi)

The Sardinian gnocchi was my first attempt at making any kind of pasta, from scratch. It was super simple to make– each golden "nugget" is a dumpling (gnocchi) made with semolina flour, water and saffron (for color). They're a little time-consuming, but easy enough for kids to do. The tomato sauce is very simple to make, with a nice "kick" from red pepper flakes and Italian sausage.

Prep Time30 minutes mins

Cook Time1 hour hr

Making pasta by hand1 hour hr

Total Time2 hours hrs 30 minutes mins

Course: main

Cuisine: Italian

Keyword: Ciccione, Gnocchi, Sardinian Sausage Tomato Sauce & Ciccione (Gnocchi)

Servings: 6

Author: Debby – www.AFeastfortheEyes.net

Ingredients

For the sauce:

• Olive Oil
• 1 pound Italian sausage
• 1 onion finely chopped
• 2-3 garlic cloves finely sliced
• 1/4 cup white wine
• 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes used 1/2 tsp.
• salt to taste
• fresh basil 4-6 large leaves

For the Ciccione (dumplings)

• 4 cups semolina flour
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1/2 cup hot water
• pinch saffron (or you could use tumeric which is cheaper and will give the pasta the golden color

Instructions

For the sauce:

• Remove the sausage from the casing. In a bowl, pour the white wine with the sausage and gently mix it with your hands. The wine will prevent the sausage from cooking in large clumps.
• Heat enough olive oil to lightly coat your pot (I use a Dutch Oven), add the onion and a little kosher salt and saute until tender– just a couple minutes.
• Add the red pepper flakes (1/2 teaspoon gave this pasta some kick, which we liked. Adjust according to your taste.
• Add the sliced garlic.
• Push aside some of the cooked onion & garlic and add a little more olive oil.
• Add the sausage to the “hot spot” and cook until it is no longer pink, breaking it up as you go along (the wine trick really worked!)
• Add the tomatoes (which I quickly pulsed in a food processor).
• Season with kosher salt to taste. Add the fresh basil, whole, so it can easily be removed before serving.
• Simmer, for at least an hour, on low heat.

FOR THE GNOCCHI:

• To the 1/2 cup of hot water, add a pinch of saffron (you could use a little tumeric, which would color the pasta yellow). Stir the water and saffron to help release the golden color.
• In a food processor, place 4 cups of semolina flour. With the processor turned on, slowly add 1 1/2 cups water, and then the saffron water. Watch as the water combines with the flour, the dough will begin to form. Once it all comes together, turn off the processor and remove the dough onto a floured surface.
• With flour hands, knead the dough a few times and form into a round disk. Cover with plastic wrap and allow it to relax in the refrigerator for at least an hour.
• On a lightly floured surface, remove the dough and cut it into six pieces (in half and then in thirds). (A bench scraper works great for this and is safer for kids to use!)
• Cut each section, again (in thirds is good), and roll into a “snake” about the width of a child’s finger. Sprinkle a little bit of flour before cutting each “roll” into small pieces.
• Using the back of a microplane (I used one for grating hard cheese, because it has large holes) place either your thumb (which I did) or your index finger and push and roll the piece of dough. It should leave an impression and have a “hole” where the delicious tomato sauce will find it’s way.
• With two people, the whole process of making the gnocchi/dumplings/ciccione (not sure which is the most correct term) about 45 minutes.
• Place these on a baking sheet, covered with a clean tea towel.
• Bring a pot of heavily salted (1/4 cup) water, to a boil.
• Lift the prepared pasta by lifting the corners of the towel, and gently dump the pasta into a colander, over the sheet pan. Gently shake the colander, to remove the excess flour.
• Place the pasta into the boiling water. The dumplings will double in size, and will begin to come to the surface. I cooked the pasta for about 10 minutes.

Notes

I have a “spider” which makes it easy to scoop the gnocchi out of the boiling water and placing it into the tomato sauce (don’t forget to remove the cooked basil).

Right before serving, you can add fresh basil as a garnish and freshly grated parmegiano-reggiano(or hard cheese of your choice.

Tried this recipe?Mention @afeastfortheeyes or tag #afeastfortheeyesblog!

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