RECIPE · SARDINIA (BARBAGIA AND NUORO) · AUTUMN

SERVES 4 · ABOUT 40 MINUTES · BETTER SHARED

Pane carasau is the thin, crisp flatbread of inland Sardinia, made to keep for months. Pane frattau is what you do with it when you want a proper meal: the sheets go into hot lamb stock for a moment, then onto the plate in layers with a simple tomato sauce and Pecorino Sardo, and every plate is finished with a poached egg.

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What to buy

For the frattau

• 8 sheets of pane carasau
• 350 ml tomato passata
• 1.2 litres lamb or mutton stock (or ordinary beef stock, if you can’t find it)
• Half an onion
• Pecorino Sardo, for grating
• Extra virgin olive oil
• A few sprigs of basil
• Salt

For the poached eggs

• 4 eggs
• 2 litres water
• 200 ml vinegar
• Salt

Method

1. The sauce. Peel the onion, chop it finely and let it soften in a small pan with a few spoonfuls of olive oil. When it has just wilted, add the passata and a pinch of salt and cook over a medium heat for about 15 minutes. Finish with a few basil leaves.
2. The eggs, while the sauce cooks. Bring the water and vinegar to the boil with a pinch of salt. Crack an egg into a small bowl. Stir the water quickly with a whisk to make a whirlpool and slide the egg into the middle: the white wraps itself around the yolk. It takes about 2 minutes. If the whirlpool slows down, keep it moving gently with a spoon.
3. Lift the egg out with a slotted spoon and let it drain on kitchen paper. Do the same with the other eggs.
4. The carasau. Break each sheet into 4 pieces. When the sauce is nearly ready, heat the stock in a wide pan. Once it is hot, dip the carasau in a few pieces at a time, just long enough to soften. It should bend, not go soggy.
5. The plates. On each of 4 plates: carasau, tomato sauce, grated pecorino, then the same again. Two layers each, a generous handful of pecorino on top and a poached egg to finish. Serve straight away.

Hard to find? The substitute

Use packaged pane carasau. Another thin bread will not give the same result, so this is the one ingredient worth seeking out. Lamb stock can be hard to find in London: if you can’t get it, use an ordinary beef stock.

Where to find it in London

We buy our pane carasau at Antonio Delicatessen, 23 Lewis Grove, Lewisham.

Capo Caccia Fine Food in East Dulwich (SE22) imports it from Sardinia and sells it online in 250g and 500g packs, with Pecorino Sardo for the top. Delicatezza, an Italian deli in Islington (N7), stocks it in 500g packs. Outside London, Somerset Foodie posts it across the UK. Stock comes and goes, so check before you order. It keeps for months in the cupboard, so it is worth buying a few packs at once.

The photo is an AI-generated illustration of the dish. The recipe is ours.