Some recipes carry a whole town’s history in a single bite. Pasticcio Carlofortino is one of them, and it’s exactly the kind of dish we were hoping to find when we got an early look at Eat Like A Sardinian, the debut cookbook from chef Francesco Mattana.
We recently sat down with Francesco to talk about his journey from Sardinia to Jamie Oliver’s Cookery School to building a global online community, and this dish came up as one of his personal favorites in the book. It hails from Carloforte, a fishing village shaped by Ligurian influence and bluefin tuna, where home cooks traditionally combined a bit of pesto, a bit of tomato sauce, preserved tuna and whatever pasta shapes were on hand to stretch a meal further. The result became a beloved staple of the town’s cooking, full of flavor and resourcefulness in equal measure.
It’s basil pesto pasta with roasted cherry tomatoes and good preserved tuna folded through, and it comes together faster than the story behind it.
THE PASTICCIO CARLOFORTINO
Images and text with permission from Eat Like A Sardinian by Francesco Mattana, photography by Dave Brown. Published by Murdoch Books.
Serves 4
200g (7oz) sweet baby plum or small cherry tomatoes 30g (1oz) basil 60ml (1/4 cup) extra virgin olive oil, plus extra for drizzling 30g (1oz) pine nuts, lightly toasted 1 garlic clove 25g (1oz) pecorino, grated 25g (1oz) Grana Padano, grated 200g (7oz) trofie or casarecce 150g (5 1/2oz) good quality tuna preserved in olive oil fine sea salt
Preheat the oven to 220°C fan (475°F/gas mark 9).
Put the tomatoes into a baking tray, drizzle with olive oil and season with a pinch of salt. Bake in the oven for 12 to 15 minutes, or until soft and slightly charred.
Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil, ready to cook the pasta.
To make the pesto, put the basil, oil, pine nuts, garlic and a pinch of salt into a food processor and blend until smooth. Add the cheeses and blend again until a thick pesto has formed. If needed, add a few tablespoons of water to make it easier to blitz the ingredients. Taste and adjust the seasoning if needed.
Salt the pasta water and cook the pasta according to the packet instructions until al dente, then drain, reserving a cup of the water.
Return the pasta to the saucepan, off the heat. Add the pesto and give it a good stir until the pesto coats the pasta, creating a creamy sauce. If the sauce is too thick, add a splash of the reserved pasta water to loosen it.
Drain the tuna and add it to the pasta along with the cooked tomatoes.
Give everything a good final stir, then serve.
TOP TIPS If you are not a big fan of tuna, feel free to skip it, as you can simply make this as a delicious basil pesto pasta dish.
If you love pesto, make a big batch of this and store it in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
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