Italian Sardinian Lamb Intestines with Peas | Cordula con Piselli alla Campidanese

Sep 23

11 min read

Cordula con Piselli alla Campidanese (Italian Sardinian Lamb Intestines with Peas)

Cordula is a braid, and everything about this dish follows from that. The small intestines of a milk fed lamb are cleaned, plaited into a thick rope, and only then cooked. Sardinians call it sa corda, the cord, because that is what it looks like. The plait is not decoration. It is the device that turns a handful of slippery, uneven tubes into one dense cylinder that cooks evenly, holds its shape in a braising pan and slices into neat rounds.

The Campidano version braises that braid slowly with peas, onion, a little tomato and white wine until the connective tissue has gone soft and the sauce thickens around it. It is the spring dish of the plain, made when lambs are killed for Easter and the first peas come out of the same fields. The grill has nothing to do with it: cordula alla brace is another dish, and this one lives in a covered pot.

Done properly the rounds are tender with a slight resistance at the centre, glossy rather than greasy, and the peas have taken on the lamb without turning to mush. Done badly it is chewy, almost always because of a hard boil instead of a slow one.

Yield: 6 servings. Prep: 1 hour, including cleaning and braiding. Cook: 1 hour 40 minutes. Rest: 10 minutes. Difficulty: advanced. Course: main course. Region: Sardinia, the Campidano plain between Cagliari and Oristano. Season: spring.

The Story

The Campidano is the flat corridor running from Cagliari up to Oristano, the only real plain on an island otherwise made of rock and scrub, and it has always been where Sardinian farming and shepherding meet. Grain and vegetables came off the fields, flocks came down from the hills for the winter, and the cooking of the towns along it carries both. Cordula con piselli is that meeting: the offal of a pastoral animal cooked with a vegetable from the plain.

Its calendar is Easter. The agnello da latte, the lamb still on its mother's milk, is killed at four or five weeks, and in a household where nothing was wasted the carcass went in several directions at once. The loin and legs were roasted, and the pluck and the intestines went to the cook who knew what to do with them. Sa cordula is the braided intestine, sa trattalia the skewered pluck, and confusing the two is a reliable way to be corrected in a Sardinian kitchen.

The peas are the other half of the date. The Campidano gives its first tender peas in March and April, the same weeks the Easter lambs are butchered, so the pairing is calendar rather than invention. The dish belongs to the days after the feast, cooked slowly while the family worked through what remained of the animal. It has never been restaurant food on the island, and it tastes like the house dish it is.

Ingredients

For the cordula

Lamb small intestines, milk fed lamb, 2 1/4 lb (1 kg) before cleaning
Lamb caul fat, 3 oz (85 g), optional, for binding the braid
Coarse salt, 1/4 cup (70 g), for cleaning
White wine vinegar, 1/2 cup (120 ml), for cleaning
Lemons, halved, 2, for cleaning

For the braise

Extra virgin olive oil, 3 tbsp (45 ml)
Yellow onion, finely sliced, 1 large, about 8 oz (225 g)
Garlic cloves, crushed, 2
Dry white wine, 3/4 cup (180 ml)
Peeled plum tomatoes, hand crushed, 3/4 cup (180 g)
Light lamb stock or water, 1 1/2 cups (360 ml)
Bay leaves, 2
Fresh thyme, 2 sprigs
Fine sea salt, 1 tsp (6 g)
Freshly ground black pepper, 1/2 tsp

For the peas

Fresh shelled peas, 1 lb (450 g), or frozen petits pois
Fine sea salt, 1/4 tsp (1.5 g)

For finishing

Flat leaf parsley, chopped, 1/3 cup (15 g)
Fresh mint leaves, torn, 8 to 10, optional
Extra virgin olive oil, 2 tbsp (30 ml), raw
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Preparation

Step 1

Clean the intestines properly, because nothing later fixes this. Cut them into lengths of about 20 inches (50 cm). Turn each length inside out by folding one end back over itself and running cold water into the cuff, so the weight of the water pushes the tube through. Scrape the inner surface with the back of a knife, rinse, then work the lengths hard with the coarse salt for two minutes. Rinse, soak 20 minutes in cold water with the vinegar and squeezed lemons, and rinse again until the water runs clear.

Step 2

Blanch and check the smell. Put the cleaned lengths into cold water, bring slowly to a bare simmer and hold 10 minutes, skimming the grey foam. Drain, rinse and smell them: a clean cordula smells of milk and lamb, faintly sweet, and nothing else. If any sourness is left, repeat the salt and lemon treatment and blanch again. Pat dry, since a wet braid will not brown.

Step 3

Braid the cordula. Take three lengths, knot them at one end and plait them as you would plait hair, keeping the tension firm and even so no loose loops are left. Tuck the tails under and secure them with a turn of butcher twine. If you have caul fat, lay a thin sheet along the braid so it wraps the outside, melts during cooking and bastes the plait inwards. Make two or three braids of about 12 inches (30 cm).

Step 4

Brown the braids. Heat the olive oil in a heavy casserole wide enough to hold the braids flat, over medium high heat. Brown them 4 to 5 minutes a side without moving them, until the surface is deep gold and tight. This is the only aggressive heat in the recipe: it sets the plait so it cannot unravel, and builds the roasted lamb flavour a purely braised offal dish never develops. Lift them onto a plate.

Step 5

Build the soffritto in the same pot. Drop the heat to medium low, add the onion with a pinch of salt and cook 10 minutes until soft and pale gold, scraping the browned residue off the bottom as the onion releases its water. Add the garlic, bay and thyme for a minute. The fat in the pot is now lamb fat as much as olive oil, and that is what carries the dish.

Step 6

Deglaze and start the braise. Pour in the wine, raise the heat and reduce by half, about 3 minutes, scraping the base clean. Add the tomatoes and cook 4 minutes until they darken. Return the braids with any juices, pour in the stock, season and bring it to the gentlest possible simmer. The liquid should come halfway up the braids, no more. Cover and cook at the lowest active heat for 1 hour 10 minutes, turning the braids once halfway.

Step 7

Add the peas and finish the sauce. Test a braid with a knife tip: it should meet a soft, even resistance with no springiness. If it still feels elastic, give it another 15 minutes. Then scatter in the peas with their pinch of salt, half cover and cook 15 minutes for fresh peas or 8 for frozen, letting the liquid reduce until it just coats the braid. Do not stir hard; shake the pot.

Step 8

Rest, slice and season. Let the covered pot stand off the heat for 10 minutes. Lift the braids onto a board, snip off the twine and cut them across into rounds of about 1 1/2 inches (4 cm), which keeps the plait visible in section. Return them to the pot with the parsley and torn mint and swirl them through the peas and sauce. Taste for salt now and not before, then finish with raw oil and pepper.

Plating

Serve it in shallow warm bowls rather than flat plates, because the sauce runs and the peas need somewhere to sit. Spoon the peas and sauce down as a bed, then set two or three rounds of cordula on top with the cut face upwards. That cross section is the point of the dish and it disappears the moment the pieces are tumbled together.

Keep the portions honest. This is rich food, and three rounds with a generous spoonful of peas is a main course. Nothing needs stacking: the pot is the format the dish was designed for.

Finish at the table with chopped parsley, a thread of raw olive oil and pepper. Bread matters more than a side dish here, and pane carasau or a dense country loaf belongs beside it for the sauce. If you want a vegetable, keep it bitter and plain, wild chicory dressed with oil, in a separate bowl.

Professional Technique

The braid is a cooking technique disguised as a folk habit. A single lamb intestine is thin walled, uneven in diameter and full of collagen, and cooked loose it behaves badly: the thin sections shred while the thick ones are still tough, and the whole thing tangles in the pan. Plaiting three lengths averages that out. The rope has a consistent diameter, so heat penetrates at the same rate everywhere and the inner layers are shielded by the outer ones.

The plait also solves the fat problem. Lamb intestine carries a thin layer of fat on its outer surface, and in a braid that fat ends up inside the rope as well as outside. As the braise proceeds it renders through the plait, basting the interior continuously. That is why a braided cordula stays succulent through nearly two hours while loose pieces turn dry and papery in half the time.

The browning is the third element and the easiest to skip. Offal braised without initial colour has a flat, boiled character no seasoning corrects. Four or five minutes a side at real heat gives the Maillard compounds that make the sauce read as lamb, and sets the surface proteins so the twine comes off later without the braid relaxing.

Texture and Moisture Control

Intestine is almost entirely collagen and smooth muscle, so it has two textures available: elastic and unpleasant, or soft and gelatinous. The switch happens as collagen hydrolyses into gelatin, and that reaction needs time at a low temperature rather than heat. Held at a bare simmer around 185°F (85°C) it runs steadily across an hour and a quarter. Pushed to a hard boil the muscle fibres contract faster than the collagen breaks down, and you get tough offal in a thin sauce.

That gelatin is also the thickener. Nothing binds this sauce except what comes out of the cordula, which is why the liquid starts at only half the height of the braids. Too much stock and the gelatin is diluted past the point where it can set, and you boil the peas to death trying to reduce it. By the end the liquid should coat a spoon and feel slightly sticky.

The peas have a narrow window and go in at the end for a reason: fifteen minutes takes a fresh spring pea to tender while it still holds shape and colour, thirty turns it grey and floury. Frozen petits pois need eight and no more. Err short, because they keep cooking through the rest.

Professional Mise en Place

The work here is front loaded: cleaning and braiding take the best part of an hour and cannot be rushed, after which the pot looks after itself.

Equipment and tools

Heavy casserole or braising pan wide enough to hold the braids flat, with a lid
Large bowl and colander for the cleaning stages
Butcher twine and scissors
Small sharp knife for scraping the intestine
Tongs long enough to turn a braid

Prepared ahead

Intestines cleaned, blanched and dried, up to 1 day ahead and kept cold
Braids plaited and tied, refrigerated uncovered so the surface dries
Onion sliced, garlic crushed, herbs picked
Stock measured and warm
Peas shelled on the day and kept cold

Service setup

Braise started at least 1 hour 30 minutes before service
Pot held at the lowest active simmer, lid on, turned once
Peas added only 15 minutes before the dish goes out
Bowls warmed, parsley and mint chopped at the last moment
Braids sliced only after the ten minute rest

Chef Tips

Buy from a butcher who handles whole lambs and ask for the intestine of a milk fed animal, ordered for the day it is butchered. Intestine from an older lamb is thicker walled, stronger and needs closer to two hours, and any that has sat in a bag for three days will not clean properly however much salt and lemon you use.

Plait tighter than feels natural. A loose braid relaxes in the first twenty minutes in the pot, loops open, and the rounds fall apart on the board. If the plait resists slightly as you work, the tension is right.

Taste for salt only at the end. Lamb offal releases a surprising amount of its own seasoning across ninety minutes, and a pot that tasted correct at the start will be too salty by the finish. Season lightly at the beginning and correct once, after the peas are in and the liquid has reduced.

If you cannot face braiding, do not drop the lengths in loose. Wind each one tightly around a fork, slide it off as a coil and tie it with twine. It is not cordula and will not slice as cleanly, but it keeps the thin sections from shredding.

Common Mistakes

Cleaning the intestines too quickly. The single cause of a dish nobody finishes. Turning them inside out, scraping, a salt rub, an acid soak and a blanch are five stages and all five are needed. If any sourness survives the blanch, repeat rather than proceed to the pot.

Boiling instead of simmering. A hard boil contracts the muscle faster than the collagen converts, and the cordula comes out rubbery in a thin sauce. Keep the surface barely moving for the full hour and ten minutes.

Skipping the browning. Offal that goes straight into liquid tastes boiled, and an unset braid is far more likely to loosen. Four or five minutes a side over real heat is not optional.

Adding the peas with everything else. Peas cooked for an hour and a half turn grey, floury and sweet in the wrong way, and they cloud the sauce. They belong in the last 15 minutes, or the last 8 if they are frozen.

Wine Pairing

Campidano di Terralba DOC: The wine of the plain this dish is named after, built on Bovale grown on the sandy soils around Terralba. Dry, medium bodied and a little rustic, with soft tannin and a dusty red fruit that suits offal far better than anything polished. Its modest structure lets the lamb come forward instead of fighting it.

Cannonau di Sardegna DOC: The island red, and the safe choice when the braise has been made with a generous hand. Its warm alcohol and dried herb character meet the rendered lamb fat directly, while the tannin stays soft enough not to collide with the peas. Choose a young unoaked bottling and serve it around 61°F (16°C).

Nuragus di Cagliari DOC: The white alternative, from vineyards on the Campidano itself, and a better match than it sounds. High acidity and low alcohol cut the gelatin in the sauce in a way the reds cannot, and its green apple and herb notes run alongside the peas and mint. Serve it well chilled.

Alghero DOC: From the Catalan corner of the northwest, worth reaching for when the dish carries plenty of tomato. The reds here have more fruit and a firmer acid line than Cannonau, and that acidity keeps the palate clean through a rich braise, with grip enough for the browned surface of the braid.

Cerasuolo di Vittoria DOCG: The mainland option, from southeastern Sicily, and a good one for spring offal. The Frappato in the blend brings a light, almost floral red fruit that lifts the peas, while the Nero d'Avola supplies the body the lamb needs. Serve it cool, around 57°F (14°C).

Storage & Reheating

The braise improves overnight, though the peas do not. Cool the pot within two hours and refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 3 days. The sauce sets to a firm jelly in the cold, proof the collagen did its work, and loosens again as soon as it is warmed.

Reheat gently in a covered pan over low heat with 2 tablespoons of stock, shaking rather than stirring, about 10 minutes. Never use a high flame or a microwave: the rounds tighten and turn rubbery fast once already cooked. If you expect leftovers, hold back a handful of raw peas and add them during the reheat.

Cordula freezes well on its own but badly with the peas in it. Freeze the braids whole and unsliced in their sauce for up to 2 months, thaw overnight in the refrigerator and cook fresh peas into the reheated sauce. Frozen sliced rounds lose their section, and the braid stops being visible.

Nutrition

Per serving, based on 6 servings:

Calories: 410 kcal
Total Fat: 24 g
Saturated Fat: 8 g
Trans Fat: 0.3 g
Unsaturated Fat: 14 g
Cholesterol: 290 mg
Sodium: 620 mg
Total Carbohydrates: 16 g
Fiber: 5 g
Total Sugars: 6 g
Added Sugars: 0 g
Protein: 28 g
Lactose: 0 g
Principal micronutrients: iron, zinc, vitamin B12, folate, vitamin K, vitamin C, phosphorus