Do try this at home

Cookery class at Su Sazzagoni

While most people are more than familiar with ubiquitous Italian cuisine, Sardinian food presents rather more ambiguity.

Being an island off the coast of Italy, as well as sharing its climate and culture, Sardinia inevitably has much in common with its older sisters’ rich and comforting diet  – fruity olive oil, unique pastas and more cheese and cured meat varieties than you can shake a stick at.

However, purists – and indeed Sardinians – protest that the island has its very own food profile. One such campaigner is Elena Sollai, a Sardinian national who in 2007 left the balmy climes of her home turf to set up camp in Hackney.

Su Sazzagoni, her Sardinian restaurant and delicatessen has since proved extremely popular with the well-bred and well-fed residents of Victoria Park Village.

The restaurant stocks only Sardinian produce from specialist importers.  As well as offering a diverse menu of meat, fish, seafood, pizza and pasta, their delectable deli counter is stocked with unpronounceable cheeses and unusual salamis, hams and traditional cakes.

As an enthusiastic hostess, Elena loves nothing more the buzz of a homely restaurant. “Su Sazzagoni brings together people who don’t know each other but all love good food,” Elena says. “This is why we have the long tables that are common at Sardinian festivals.”

Elena has now gone one step further to provide some Sardinian food for thought for amateur Hackney connoisseurs.  Her new cookery school debuted this week.

It not only takes Italian-style food to another level, but almost certainly guarantees dinner party point scoring- after all, who would fail to be impressed by knowledge of fregola, bottarda and malloreddus?

“I set up the cookery classes because I wanted to offer a chance for people to learn more about Sardinian food and culture,” Elena explains. “It gives them a chance to cook it for themselves with ingredients from the deli.”

And it seems people are willing to learn. Her first cookery class on a sunny Tuesday evening was full to capacity. Pupils were seated around the restaurant’s intimate long tables and proved to be an amiable bunch of gastronomes.

Nina, sat opposite, was a seasoned homemaker and had just a week earlier enjoyed a boozy wine tasting, also in Victoria Village (evidently a hotbed of young urban professional foodies).  However, Martin, to my right, claimed to not know how to cook but had decided he’d come to the ripe old age (of 35) to learn.

All of this matters not, as Elena insists the course is open to everyone, no matter how hapless their boiled egg timings.

The informal class started with meet and greet olives and some of the best homemade bread this positively gluten tolerant flour fanatic has tasted in a very long time (focaccia, since you were wondering, with a crisp layer of sea salt).

Elena and her affable head chef Andres then brought us each a plate of cured meats, all sourced from Sardinia and available from the well-stocked fridges of Su Sazzagoni. Elena spoke with incredible knowledge about the salamis and hams before us. Needless to say they were consumed with immediate effect.

Elena then gave us some invaluable tips and trivia points about her native cuisine, emphasising that its key value is “fresh and high quality ingredients cooked simply”. Sardinian food, she says, differs from Italian due to its vast coastlines, producing the freshest seafood and fish. Locals also use more olive oil than their northern Italian contemporaries who use heavy butter.

Artichokes are cheap and plentiful on the island, Elena recalling her shock upon arrival in the UK at how overpriced and low in quality our preserved versions are.  And the signature Sardinian dish? Suckling pig, buried in the ground and slow cooked around coals (perhaps not one to try at home).

After fielding our questions, next up was a pasta and gnocchi masterclass. We were invited into Andres’ kitchen to roll up our own miniature dumplings of potato and flour which, upon tasting, were light, soft and a million miles away from dense supermarket versions.

We then witness Andres cook seafood with fregola- a giant cous cous-like pasta grain. He too offers sound advice on shellfish preparation. He then whips up a simple tomato and basil sauce with Sardinian sausage, making the whole process look incredibly easy.

Since the class is mostly observational, no aprons are required and the best treat of all? We get to eat the fruits of Su Sazzagoni’s teachings at the end, over a glass of Sardinian red, naturally.

The class is just one of the unique offerings from the restaurant. Later this month will see staff dress in full regalia to celebrate the anniversary of Sardinia’s independence, serving up the traditional suckling pig along with no less than 16 other courses.

For a very reasonable £25, Elena’s cooking course was an informative yet relaxed evening very much in the spirit of the sunny, sociable Med. Details of upcoming events can be found on the Su Sazzagoni Twitter page with a website coming very soon.