Issue1 TasteBound compressed - Flipbook - Page 46
THE ISLAND WITHIN
a simple tomato salad. It was my
favourite sort of food: comforting,
unpretentious, fresh, delicious. It was
like eating in someone’s home.
Domu means home in local language
Sardo, and antiga means ancient or
old. Staying and eating here is about
as close as it comes to being a guest
in someone’s home. An ancient home,
that is; unchanged by the world
around it. There’s no overarching
aim to create a ‘destination’ but
for owners of these cherished
Born in Devon,
b&bs to simply open the doors
the writer,
and host in the most passionate
classically
and authentic way.
trained chef
and illustrator
Most of Sardinia’s best food
Letitia Clark
is to be found in people’s homes.
moved to
When travelling in France as
Sardinia in 2017
a teenager, I searched in vain
for restaurants serving Elizabeth
David-esque homemade sausages
cooked to perfection, silky duck
rillettes and cheeses that fled at the
touch of a knife. It’s a similar story
in Italy. The best cooking is rarely
the gourmet fare of restaurants, but
instead, the comforting cucina della
casa. If anything, Sardinia provides
a concentrated version of the
nationwide Italian obsession with all
things fatti in casa – made at home.
It’s something I was reminded of
recently at a picnic. Only after I’d
presented my contribution – a small
hunk of (bought) cheese – which had
been moulding quietly in my fridge, and
a few sad tomatoes, I was abashed to
44
TA S T E B O U N D
PHOTOS: MATT RUSSELL; UNSPLASH/BERNHARD
he first time I ate dinner at Domu
Antiga, I sat under the stone-arched
veranda beside a pale pink climbing
rose whose scent bled into the warm
evening. We ate braised wild boar lifted
with a hint of orange, a traditional
baked pasta stained with saffron and
studded with melting sheep’s cheese,
and tiny fried almond ravioli dusted
with icing sugar. Numerous vegetable
side dishes were brought on oval
platters: lightly pickled baby courgettes
from the family’s orto (allotment);
stuffed, baked, breadcrumbed onions;
