Three Women, One Kitchen

At I Mandorli, family cooking has three names: Assunta, her daughter Susanna and her granddaughter Carla Maria. Three generations, three different moments in time, and a handful of dishes that keep returning to the table. This is not a recipe page. It is about the things a family passes on from one person to the next, often without needing to explain them.

Assunta, where it begins

Assunta lived to the age of ninety-nine. She was the matriarch of the family, and her place in this story is in the recipes she left behind.

Ogliastra is part of the Sardinian area studied for its remarkable longevity. That belongs to the geography of the place; it is not an explanation for one person’s life.

The dish that represents Assunta is ghisau, a slow-cooked Sardinian meat stew.

You will not find the method here. The recipe stays where it has always been: in the family.

Susanna, carrying it forward

Susanna is Assunta’s daughter and the owner of I Mandorli.

With her, those recipes did not become something to preserve behind glass. They continued to be cooked and passed on.

Her dessert is ricotta cake with lemon zest and acquavite.

The name already tells you a good deal. The rest stays in the kitchen.

Carla Maria, between kitchen and land

Carla Maria is Assunta’s granddaughter.

At I Mandorli, her work moves between the kitchen and the land. They are simply two parts of the same day.

Her dish is paccheri with confit tomatoes and cistus honey.

It is the most contemporary of the three, but it belongs to the same family story.

Three generations

Assunta’s ghisau.

Susanna’s ricotta cake.

Carla Maria’s paccheri with confit tomatoes and cistus honey.

Three women, three dishes, three generations.

The rest makes sense at the table.

Boutique agriturismo in Ogliastra, Sardegna: 9 camere, piscina Sa Barza da 42 m² tra i mandorli, colazione contadina, silenzio e natura.