Lorighittas
loh-ree-GHEET-tas
Two thin strands braided into a ring.
Name. Sardinian, from loriga, a ring or an earring.
What it is
Lorighittas come from one village, Morgongiori in Sardinia: a thin strand of semolina dough looped twice around three fingers and twisted into a braided ring. They are among the most labour-intensive shapes in Italy and were made for All Saints' Day.
They are still made by hand by a few women in the village and sold dried at a premium.
How to cook lorighittas
8 to 12 minutes in boiling salted water. Take the shorter time for al dente, the longer time for fully cooked.
8:00
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 lorighittas. Stir for the first minute so nothing sticks. Start the timer when the water returns to the boil.
- Bite a piece at 7 minutes. A hairline of white at the centre is al dente.
- 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 braided ring with a lot of surface, traditionally served with a chicken or rooster ragu, or a simple tomato and pecorino.
Pairs with: Meat ragu · Pomodoro · Sausage ragu
Classic plates: Lorighittas con sugo di gallo, Lorighittas al pomodoro.
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 lorighittas? 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
lorighitas, lorighittas di Morgongiori.
Sources
- Cook time: fresh, by maker.
- Photograph: Lorighittas_sardi_(36953461766).jpg, fugzu from Pistoia, Italia, CC BY 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.
- Lorighittas, Wikipedia (names, origin), CC BY-SA 4.0
- Dimensions: brand spec sheets and measured boxes. Blank fields are unmeasured, never guessed.