Culurgiones are fresh pasta ravioli typical of Ogliastra, filled with boiled potato, pecorino and mint, and sealed by hand with a braided seam that looks like an ear of wheat. They're served with fresh tomato and grated pecorino, or with butter and sage. The filling contains no meat and no egg: potato, cheese, mint, oil and garlic. The rest is in the closing technique.
What are culurgiones?
They are the filled pasta of eastern Sardinia. The name changes from village to village — culurgiones, culurgionis, culingionis, angiulottus — and the recipe changes with it: in some areas the pecorino is fresh, in others aged, in others still a little sour cheese or a touch of fried garlic goes in.
Since 2015 Culurgionis d'Ogliastra have held PGI (IGP) status, which fixes the filling of potato, cheese and olive oil and ties production to the Ogliastra area. Outside that area they are still made, under the same name and without the label.
What sets them apart from other Sardinian pasta dishes is the role of the potato. In malloreddus alla campidanese the flavour is in the sauce; here it's inside, and the sauce is only there to keep it from drying out.
Ingredients for 4 people
For the pasta
- 400 g re-milled durum wheat semolina
- about 200 ml lukewarm water — the amount depends on the semolina; add it a little at a time
- A pinch of salt
For the filling
- 700 g white-fleshed potatoes — floury ones hold better
- 200 g Sardinian pecorino — half fresh and half aged is the most common balance
- A bunch of fresh mint — calamint or spearmint
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- Salt
It's worth not improvising with the pecorino: it changes the whole dish. We've set out the differences between the types here: guide to Sardinian pecorino.
How to make them, step by step
1. The dough
Semolina on the board, salt, lukewarm water a little at a time. Knead for 10 minutes until smooth and firm — firmer than an egg pasta dough. Cover and leave to rest for 30 minutes at room temperature.
2. The filling
Boil the potatoes in their skins, peel them while still hot and put them through a potato ricer. Heat the oil with the crushed garlic, remove the garlic as soon as it colours and pour the oil over the potatoes. Add the grated pecorino and the finely chopped mint. Salt, mix, taste.
The filling must cool completely before you use it. If it stays warm it softens and leaks out during cooking.
3. The discs
Roll the dough out to 2 mm and cut 8 cm discs. In the centre of each put a walnut-sized piece of filling — about a heaped tablespoon, shaped into a ball.
4. The braided closure
This is the step that scares people, and in reality it's a single movement repeated many times.
- Hold the disc in the palm of your non-dominant hand, with the filling in the centre.
- Lift the two edges to form a little boat, keeping the filling inside and an opening at the top.
- Start from the tip furthest from you and pinch the right edge over the left.
- Alternate: pinch the left over the right, then the right over the left again. Each pinch pulls slightly upwards and towards the centre.
- Carry on to the end and close the last tip by pressing it flat. On top you should have a zigzag seam: that's the ear of wheat.
The first ten will come out badly. The fifteenth starts to look like something. People who have always made them close one every five seconds without looking at their hands.
If they open: there's too much filling, or the edge was dry. A wet finger along the edge before you start almost always solves it.
5. Cooking
Plenty of water, salt, a gentle boil. They're ready 2–3 minutes after they float to the top. Lift them out with a slotted spoon, never in a colander: the braid breaks.
How to dress them
- Fresh tomato and pecorino — the most common sauce. A simple, briefly cooked sauce with basil.
- Melted butter and sage — drier, it lets the filling speak.
- Sausage ragù — the Sunday version, heavier.
- Just oil and pecorino — how they're eaten the next day, pan-fried.
Which wine goes with culurgiones?
It depends on the sauce, not the pasta.
- With butter and sage, or just oil and pecorino — a savoury white with enough acidity to cut the fat of the cheese. Our Entu — Vermentino di Sardegna DOC is fermented only in stainless steel and does exactly that. Serve it at 8–10°C. More ideas in the Vermentino pairing guide.
- With tomato — a light red works well too: the acidity of the sauce wants something that doesn't weigh it down. Monica di Sardegna is the traditional choice.
- With sausage ragù — here you need structure. Brennas — Cannonau di Sardegna DOC: 100% Cannonau from organic vineyards in Villasimius, 14% ABV, served at 16–18°C.
We've gone into temperatures at length elsewhere, because they make more difference than you'd think: serving temperature guide.
Frequently asked questions
What's inside culurgiones?
Boiled mashed potato, Sardinian pecorino, fresh mint, extra virgin olive oil and garlic. No meat, no egg, no ricotta in the Ogliastra version.
Why are they called culurgiones?
The name comes from Sardinian and changes form from village to village: culurgionis, culingionis, culurjonis. It refers generally to hand-sealed filled pasta. The Ogliastra version with potato and mint is the one recognised as PGI since 2015.
How do you close a culurgione?
Lift the disc into a little boat shape and pinch the edges, alternating right over left and left over right, from the furthest tip until it's closed. On top you're left with a zigzag seam that looks like an ear of wheat.
Can they be frozen?
Yes. Lay them on a floured tray without touching, freeze for a couple of hours and then transfer them to bags. Cook them from frozen, with an extra minute.
Which pecorino do you need for culurgiones?
Sardinian pecorino, half fresh and half aged. The fresh one makes the filling soft, the aged one gives it flavour. With only aged pecorino the filling turns dry and salty.
What's the difference between culurgiones and Sardinian ravioli?
"Sardinian ravioli" is a generic term that also covers fillings of ricotta and fresh cheese. Culurgiones are something specific: a potato, mint and pecorino filling, and the braided closure. Without that seam they're ravioli, not culurgiones.
Some people count them by the dozen and some by the hour. The time it takes is always the same: the time of a laid table with someone who feels like sitting down.
Salude e trigu — Colline del Vento
