Some years ago, between Christmas and New Year, there was a new festival in Cuglieri and it led us to a culinary adventure which we wrote about at the time.
During the Sardinia Anima Mundi festival,the people of Cuglieri opened their houses, or most often their cellars, their churches and shops for the world to discover what the Cuglieritani are capable of. Choruses sang, artists exhibited, and cheese was made. We went on a tour in the seminary gardens. We were told about the numerous medicinal and culinary plants found there. And of course, during the festival lots of local wine and food was consumed. High up in the village, we entered one cellar and got a plate with a beans and pork stew. A completely traditional dish. But here it was served with crispy bits of fried pane carasau, a powder which turned out to be dried cauliflower, and a foam made from fresh goat’s cheese. It was so unexpected, and wonderful. We asked who the chef was. His young assistant Alessandro told us he was called Leonardo.
Last night Leonardo and Giampaolo cooked at our house for our family, Helga, a Swedish photographer who lives most of the year in Cuglieri, her boyfriend Gianmauro, and Simona. Unfortunately, Simona’s boyfriend could not make it. Leonardo’s partner Piera arranged the table appealingly and served an extraordinary meal perfectly.
For the aperitivo he prepared a miniature triangular sandwich with many thin layers of white bread alternating with black olive paste. It was slightly toasted in a frying pan. It was beautiful, easy to eat with one’s fingers and just salty enough to go with a glass of prosecco. This was followed by a single mussel stuffed with seven different vegetables chopped extremely finely. The raw mussel was heated just enough for it to set around the vegetables. It was served on a spoon with a dab of home-made tomato sauce on top of it. One by one the flavours crossed our pallets as we bit into it. Then a refreshing fennel and orange salad with bits of spigola fish with crispy skin. The main course was a tasty roast suckling pig with honey and vinegar glaze, root vegetables, and streaks of burro nocciola, butter heated to a hazelnut colour. The meal was rounded off with ricotta, wild red berries and crunchy bits of pane carasau sautéed with cinnamon. The only problem was I told Leonardo to skip the pasta course. Most Sardinian meals are more than plenty without it. But all Leonardo’s dishes were so light, we would have enjoyed pasta too.
Leonardo and I discussed the meal beforehand and he asked me if I wanted traditional cooking or “fine dining”. Well, I though fine dining sounded fine, so we had agreed on that. I had not understood it is an industry term that has spread from the US to Italy and denotes about the same thing as haute cuisine - the most luxurious gourmet food.
It turned out the quality of Leonardo’s cooking was no accident. His full name is Leonardo Marongiu. He left Cuglieri at 15 and worked in Switzerland, Milano, Porto Cervo, and even Yemen. For ten years he ran a restaurant together with fellow Sardinians in Parma. No mean feat in the heart of Italy’s gastronomic centre. Then he worked for eight years as the right-hand man (executive chef) for Gualtiero Marchesi at Alma, Italy’s most prestigious restaurant school. Marchesi is considered the father of modern Italian cooking. He was the first chef in Italy to receive three Michelin stars. And to cap it all, last year Leonardo was a finalist in the Italian selection for Bocuse d’Or, the culinary equivalent of the Olympics.
But like many Sardinians, Leonardo and Piera, longed to return. They bought a house here and are looking for opportunities. We feel extremely privileged to have enjoyed his cooking in our home. And the kitchen was left spotlessly clean.
It was not the first time that we had been bowled over by by discovering exceptional talent in what appears to be a peaceful village where not much happens. And most likely it will not be the last time.
Epilogue
Piera opened Vitamina, the best fruit and vegetable shop in Cuglieri, and Leonardo, after helping us to lay the basis for Food Truck 292, now practices his arts at Maluentu Skyline Bar & Restaurant.
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