Culurgiones d'Ogliastra con Patate e Menta
Sardinia — Ogliastra, Nuoro province
Ogliastra's iconic filled pasta — large half-moon pasta pockets filled with a mixture of potato, aged Pecorino Sardo, fresh mint, and garlic, sealed with the traditional ear-of-wheat braid (the most technically demanding pasta seal in Italian cuisine). The filling is unique globally: potato-and-mint inside pasta, a combination that sounds jarring but is profoundly right — the potato's earthiness is lifted by the mint's coolness and the sharp aged pecorino ties the whole. Dressed simply with tomato and basil.