Seadas
Cheese, honey and…
Seadas or sebadas (singular, less used, “seada”) are one of the most well-known sardinian pastries outside the island, and originally these were a typical dish of Easter. Now the seadas are currently produced in the whole Sardinia and during all the year, and being the cheese their main ingredient, their presence and their origin can be traced back to those areas of the island who lived by livestock farming. Their name comes from “segu” or “séu“, (Sebu in Nuoro), for the brilliance of honey that covers them and that is the reason why now the seadas are considered exclusively a dessert, but originally were a salty dish that was prepared to welcome shepherds that after a long period of transhumance, were returning back home. If you want to try to prepare seadas, here is the recipe, a relatively simple preparation which requires approximately 30 min to prepare and other 10 min for cooking.
Ingredients for 4:
Pastry:
- 500 grams of flour of durum wheat semolina
- 3 eggs
- 3 tablespoons of fresh lard
- 1 tablespoon of water
- salt
Filling:
- 1 kg of fresh sheep’s cheese
- the grated peel of 2 oranges
- juice of 1 lemon
Method:
Mix the semolina flour with eggs, dissolve a pinch of salt in a tablespoon of water and add to mixture. Add the lard little at a time until the dough is soft and elastic, cover with a cloth and let it rest. Meanwhile, grate the cheese and mix it with the grated zest of 2 oranges and the juice of a lemon, until you get a dense “cream” (instead, in some areas of Sardinia, the cheese is melted and when cooled is processed to obtain several flat pieces of cheese round shaped(discs) that are left to rest). When the filling is ready, roll out the dough into thin sheets and cut out discs of about 10 cm (to make the disks yoou can use a cup). On each disc of dough, lay two tablespoons of filling, cover it with another disc of dough and seal the two discs by pressing on the edges (someone usually brush the edges with egg to seal them better, while others close them by pressing the edges with the tines of a fork). Now you can fry the seadas in hot olive oil. Serve hot and covered in honey, preferably honey of orange or arbutus , a typical Sardinian honey with an unmistakable flavor, and without doubt, the most characteristic of Sardinia, with the scent of ivy leaves and coffee grounds.
We suggest you to pair the seadas with a sweet and aromatic white wine such as Malvasia di Bosa (see post), Vernaccia di Oristano, or also a Vermentino di Sardegna (see post) or a Moscato (see post).
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