Vernaccia & Datterini Pasta

This is a pasta dish I have been making all season for cookery class guests, and one-such guest (a delightful, straw-hatted sheep farmer from Cumbria who had me in stitches the entire day) has requested that I publish it. It's not the easiest to replicate outside Sardinia, as it involves using our homemade wine, Vernaccia di Oristano (the aged version, which is a lot like dry sherry), and some very ripe datterini tomatoes.

Datterini are one of my favourite tomato varieties; they are named after dates for their elongated shape (and acute sweetness) and they are infinitely better than cherry tomatoes (and more beautiful in their oval, tiny tipped elegance). I use them for everything - sauces, salads, snacking. The recipe comes via my mother-in-law, via a friend who is a cook at the restaurant at Tharros, the ruined Phoenician city on the San Giovanni Peninsula near where we live. They use the family Vernaccia because it is fittingly ancient for the locations (Vernaccia grape pips dating back to pre-Nuragic times have been found in recent excavations). It's a simple sauce but needs some attention to detail. When good it is probably my favourite pasta sauce of all. Sweet, tart, smoky, surprising.

If you'd like to have a go, you can supplement the Vernaccia with Marsala, Vin Santo, dry Sherry, even Vermouth. It's important it's slightly smoky/almondy tasting. Or you shall simply have to come visit and try it in situ!

Serves 2

3-4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (NOT Filippo Berio. Tesco's extra virgin is better, or Sainsbury's or whoever)

2 handfuls of datterini tomatoes (300g) , or the sweetest vine tomatoes you can find, halved lengthways

1 and half glasses of Vernaccia

half a red onion, grated (your eyes will sting like hell but crack on, pain)

salt

chopped parsley (a handful)

grated pecorino sardo (a nub)

extra virgin olive oil to finish

200g pasta of your choice (obviously Malloreddus/Gnochetti Sardi are preferable)

Warm the olive oil in a shallow saute pan and then grate the onion right on in. Stir and allow to saute very slowly until translucent. Add the halved tomatoes and turn the heat up. Saute until they begin to collapse and then slosh in the wine. Saute for a good few minutes allowing it to evaporate and the tomatoes to release their juices so things start looking saucy. You may need a to add a splash or two of water and the whole process should take about 20 minutes at least. Taste and season with salt to taste.

Cook your pasta until just al dente, then drain and save some of the pasta cooking water to mix into your sauce, stir and toss adding the chopped parsley and then the pecorino and serve, with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.