Culurgiones
koo-loor-JOH-nes
Potato and pecorino filling sealed with a pleated braid like an ear of wheat.
Name. Sardinian, of uncertain origin. PGI protected as culurgionis d'Ogliastra.
What it is
Culurgiones are the Sardinian parcel from the Ogliastra: a semolina disc folded over a filling of potato, pecorino, mint, and garlic, then closed with a pinched pleat that runs along the top like an ear of wheat. The pleat takes practice and marks the maker.
They are served with a simple tomato sauce and grated pecorino, or with butter and sage.
How to cook culurgiones
5 to 8 minutes in boiling salted water. Take the shorter time for al dente, the longer time for fully cooked.
5:00
Start when the water returns to the boil.
Water and salt
- Pasta, dry
- 400 g
- Water
- 4 L
- Salt
- 40 g
100 g per person as a main. A litre and 10 g of salt per 100 g. Adjust with the portion calculator.
The steps
- Bring 4 L of water to a full boil in a tall pot. Add 40 g of salt when it boils.
- Add the culurgiones. Stir for the first minute so nothing sticks. Start the timer when the water returns to the boil.
- Keep the water at a gentle boil, not a rolling one, so the parcels do not split. They are done about a minute after they float.
- Scoop out a cup of the cooking water. Drain, or lift the pasta straight into the pan.
- Toss with the sauce over the heat for a minute. Add cooking water a splash at a time until it clings.
Read more: what al dente means and why the pasta water matters. Times for every shape are on the cook page.
How it holds sauce
A rich potato and cheese filling under a thick semolina skin. A light tomato with pecorino cuts it; butter and sage is the plainer option.
Pairs with: Pomodoro · Butter and sage
Classic plates: Culurgiones al sugo di pomodoro, Culurgiones al burro e salvia.
Nutrition
Per 100 g of dry semolina pasta. The shape does not change these numbers. The dough does, so a whole wheat or egg version of this shape reads differently. See every dough.
| Per 100 g | Energy | Protein | Carbohydrate | Fibre | Fat | Sodium | Iron |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dry | 371 kcal | 13.0 g | 74.7 g | 3.2 g | 1.5 g | 6 mg | 3.3 mg |
| Cooked | 158 kcal | 5.8 g | 30.9 g | 1.8 g | 0.9 g | 1 mg | 1.3 mg |
One portion. 100 g dry becomes about 235 g cooked, 371 kcal and 13 g of protein. Pasta takes on 2.3 times its weight in the pot.
No culurgiones? Use these
Ranked by how they behave with sauce, not how they look. Full substitute list.
Side by side
Easy to confuse with
Other names
Culingionis, angiolottus, angiulottus, culurgiones d'Ogliastra, culurgionis, culurzones, kulurjones, spighitti.
Read more
Fresh versus dried pasta: neither is better, they are different foods
The difference between fresh and dried pasta: dough, texture, cook time, storage, and which shapes and sauces belong to each.
Pasta di Gragnano PGI: the town that made dried pasta an industry
What the Gragnano PGI protects, why the town near Naples became the capital of dried pasta, and what the mark means on a box.
Sources
- Cook time: fresh, by maker.
- Photograph: Culurgione.jpg, andria, CC BY-SA 2.0.
- USDA FoodData Central (nutrition per 100 g, by dough: FDC 169736, Pasta, dry, enriched; FDC 169737, Pasta, cooked, enriched, without added salt), public domain. The cooked yield is derived from the two energy figures.
- Culurgiones, Wikipedia (names, origin), CC BY-SA 4.0
- Q3699362, Wikidata
- Dimensions: brand spec sheets and measured boxes. Blank fields are unmeasured, never guessed.