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Italian Recipe

Seadas

Sardinia’s shepherd dessert: a crisp fried pastry round holding warm, lemon-scented young pecorino, finished under a ribbon of bitter corbezzolo honey.

Sardinia’s shepherd dessert: a crisp fried pastry round holding warm, lemon-scented young pecorino, finished under a ribbon of bitter corbezzolo honey.

50 min Prep Time
15 min Cook Time
6 Servings
medium

Instructions

  1. Rub the lard into the semola with the salt, then knead with about 150 ml warm water into a smooth, plastic dough. Rest 30 minutes wrapped.

    40 min

  2. Warm the cheese slices briefly in a dry pan just until they slump, fold in the lemon zest, and shape into 6 flat discs about 8 cm wide. Cool.

    12 min

  3. Roll the dough 2 mm thin. Cut twelve 10 cm rounds. Center a cheese disc on six of them, cap with the others, and press the borders sealed; trim with a fluted wheel.

    20 min

  4. Heat the oil to 170 C. Fry the seadas one or two at a time, spooning oil over the top, until blistered and gold on both faces, about 2 minutes each.

    12 min

  5. Drain a breath on paper, plate immediately, and pour the warm honey over in ribbons.

    3 min

  6. Serve at once, while the heart still flows. A pinch of grated lemon zest over the honey is permitted and lovely.

Chef's Tips

  • The cheese must be young: Aged pecorino refuses to melt and fights the honey. If you cannot find days-old pecorino, a fresh primo sale or even good low-moisture mozzarella with extra lemon honors the idea.
  • Baste while frying: Spooning hot oil over the top blisters the pastry into the bubbled surface that marks a proper seada before you ever cut it.
  • Sugar instead of honey appears in some village bars and is quietly tolerated; corbezzolo honey is the connoisseur’s ending and worth ordering by mail.

Nutrition Facts

Calories
651.41
Protein
19.48g
Carbohydrates
60.72g
Fat
36.95g
Fiber
2.39g

Per serving

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