Mar 14, 20216 min read

Not Entirely Sardinian Panadas

My tried ‘n tested, marginally lower-carb remix of the traditional Sardinian lamb and potato (mine has no potato, for example) pie. Also, I found that the “raw” filling favoured by many traditional recipes a pain in the arse because it delivers less flavour than this version using a pre-cooked filling. And, I have included veggie/vegan versions.

Like the original, this is a two part recipe best cooked over two days (or at least prepare the first part in the morning and the final part in the evening). Stop whinging, you lazy be-atches: it’s actually less stressy.

This is a very family-friendly recipe, especially the pie-making part. I’m sign a statement that when making this dish with kids, they went from “needy” to kneady” in the blink of an eye.

The measurements in this recipe serve between five to eight people depending on your choice of accompaniments and how greedy the diners are. I prefer making smaller individual pies (which consume more pastry) rather than a single 20+cm diameter pie since they can be safely kept in the fridge for days or frozen for even longer.

Also, don’t live by my filling quantities: you can mess about with the ratios for your preferred outcome; more meaty, less meaty. Or, experiment with adding other herbs and veggies (and see veggie/vegan alternatives below). My best two variants are (herb) adding chopped mint and (veggie) adding uncooked spinach at the baking stage. Both deliver fantastic results.

Part 1 - The Filling

Shopping list

750 g of lamb shoulder, or any other non-fatty lamb cut into 1 cm cubes
12 sundried tomatoes, cut into rough pieces. (If you don’t have sundried tomatoes to hand see the notes below)
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 glass red wine (or half a glass of redcurrant juice while reciting the Serenity Prayer)
1 generous bunch of flat-leaf parsley to taste, chopped
5 garlic cloves, crushed (or extremely finely chopped if you’re a purist)
2 large white or common-or-garden onions, finely chopped
10 saffron stamens (desirable rather than essential)
500 to 750g celeriac

Cooking method

In a pan with a lid, heat the olive oil and add the crushed garlic until it starts to brown. Add the chopped onions and stir. Cover and allow the onions to sweat, stirring regularly
Simultaneously, boil the peeled celeriac in salted water in a separate pot. Do not cut it into small pieces but boil it in larger pieces, for example, quarters
When the onions are soft, but not yet brown, add the lamb and stir vigorously until all sides are sealed by the oil. Add more olive oil if needed to seal the meat
First add the sundried tomatoes (or alternatives) then saffron stirring constantly. Once the sundried tomatoes show the first signs of softening, add the parsley still stirring.
When the parsley begins to wilt, add the red wine and allow the mixture to simmer and reduce, but not to overcook: you need to get it to where it looks and tastes like it needs another ten minutes before you would eat on its own. You want all of the wine to be evaporated. The lid is your friend controlling how you need to allow liquid to boil off...
Remove from the heat and allow to cool
Simultaneously, you have naturally kept an eye on the celeriac. When it is cooked but not overcooked i.e. you can push a fork into it but there is still a little resistance, remove from the heat and allow to cool

Now take a break for about an hour; file your nails, watch trashy TV, whatever...

Place the cooled cooked lamb mix into a refrigerable bowl or container.
Cut the cooled cooked celeriac into slices (about 1 to 2mm thick); gently stir these into the "braised" lamb mixture ensuring that they to not crumble too much
Dress liberally with extra virgin olive oil and a dab or red wine. Seal/cover and leave in the fridge overnight (or for a minimum of 8 hours)

Part 2 - The "hot water" pastry

Shopping list

50g lard (substitute solid vegetable shortening if you prefer)
50g goose or duck fat (substitute butter if you want and I have actually done a version with olive oil, but really it’s not as good)
100g butter, ideally unsalted
600 g (3¾ cups) plain flour, sifted
2 eggs, beaten
250ml (1 cup) of water
(1 egg, beaten with ⅛ tsp salt and 1 tsp of water) for the glaze

Cooking method

Place the lard, goose fat, butter and water in a medium saucepan over moderate heat and cook for 2 minutes or until the fats have melted but are not yet bubbling. Remove from heat.
Place flour and 1½ teaspoons of salt in a large bowl. Make a well in the centre and stir in the eggs to combine them.
Create a new well within this mixture and pour in the warm fat mixture. Stir to combine them, then knead into a smooth dough.
Wrap in cling wrap or a tightly sealed air-proof bag and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
While the dough is cooling, remove the filling from the fridge, uncover it and allow it to return to room temperature, seasoning with salt, pepper. (Grate lemon zest into it if you want an extra oomph in your pies, or finely chopped chillies if you really want it to kick)

But here's even better news for the lazy: it works very well (though not nearly as well) with store-bought frozen shortcrust pasty...

Part 3 - The final stretch

These pies are traditionally made in many different sizes, from large pies (20+cm) feeding multiple diners to far smaller pies taken out into the fields as a cold lunch in the tradition of the Cornish pasty. Opt for your preference. But you should always....

Ensure it involves a pie dish or ramekin that is 6 to 8cm deep
Make sure that when you roll out the dough there is sufficient “overhang” to seal the “lid” of the pie/s to the base using the usual method of compressing the edges with a fork
Baste with a pastry brush using the whisked egg mixture and prick the lid of the pie/s with a fork or create a small slit with a knife once you have filled and sealed your pie/s

Baking

Preheat the oven to 180°C and bake at the centre of the oven for 30 minutes. Reduce the heat to 160°C and bake for a further 20 to 40 minutes depending on your preference for how well you wish the pastry to be cooked. Unlike the version that uses the raw filling, this version reduces the tension between overbaking the pastry without under-cooking the filling and vice versa. In other words, the filling will be sufficiently cooked within the first twenty minutes. Take them out when they please you.

Serving and beyond

These pies can be served with many accompaniments. The most traditional is a green salad with fresh tomatoes. It’s also sometimes served with cooked vegetables such as carrots, peas or pumpkin in colder months. My personal favourite is to serve them with steamed tenderstem broccoli or cavolo nero dressed in extra virgin olive, finely chopped pickled garlic and grated lemon zest.
It/they will last a good few days in the fridge and are easily reheated in the microwave
If you have made smaller/individual pies, they are also suitable for freezing. Simply wait until they are fully cooled, wrap them tightly in individual freezer bags/place in airtight containers and freeze

Plant-based versions and alternatives

The best vegan alternative to the lamb I’ve found so far is large mushrooms cut into thick (e.g.1.5cm) slices and the best pescatarian alternative was tinned tuna, which worked better than fresh. Both weigh less than lamb, so you’ll have to play it “by eye”. I have baked various veggie versions of the pastry. The best to date combined vegetable shortening (Crisco disco!) and vegetable margarine. All other animal-free combos were reminiscent of that flour-based glue children use in kindergarten. Vegan version? Ve-gan? Que? Que?
If you don’t have sundried tomatoes, alternatives include tinned plum tomatoes or grilled thick slices of fresh tomato or red peppers. The main thing is to ensure that they were not entirely reduced as part of the filling (by adding them later) so that the filling is fairly "dry" before filling for the pie/s. If not, it can result in the pastry becoming soggy.

Pairings

These are my recommendations for the reasonably priced wines I think best match this dish. Take them as a “general direction” more than anything else. There are many great wines in the mode that will be perfect.