Fregola sarda with vongole
Hailing from the Mediterranean island of Sardinia, this little pasta gem is a favorite of mine thanks to its creaminess.
It’s a sort of Sardinian couscous, made by rolling and toasting semolina dough into tiny pearls. The delicate yet toothsome texture, resembling large couscous or tiny pearls of pasta, sets this dish apart from its counterparts: its quite rare to find in a restaurant or a shop, unlike the more common pasta types.
The versatility of Fregola Sarda allows it to pair seamlessly with an array of ingredients to create unique dishes that seldom make it outside of Italy, making it a unique dish to offer to your guests. Whether combined with fresh seafood, aromatic vegetables, or richly flavored sauces, it offers a great canvas for creativity and taste.
It’s cooked like a risotto: instead of dunking it into boiling water and then sieving it, it gets added try to a pan, and water is gradually added in. This way the starches in the pasta are all conserved, creating an irresestible creaminess that is unique to its type.
It pairs perfectly with fish and seafood, and I love cooking it in the summer with vongole. We served it at this summer supper club as it’s very easy to cook for many people, gradually adding the water and stirring continuously gives you more control over the cooking time - there’s no risk in overcooking it.
Try it out and stun your guests!
Ingredients
Serves: 4 portions
Prepping time: 30 min + 2 hours to soak the vongole
Cooking time: 30 min
250g fregola
150g pomodori pelati (you can get them canned), you can use tomato sauce as a substitute. Here, I also added some cherry tomatoes.
50g white wine
2 cloves of garlic
A spoon of parsley, thinly chopped
Vegetable broth
Chilly flakes - I personally like to add a bit of it but it’s up to your taste
Salt, pepper and olive oil to taste
Preparation
About two hours before cooking the fregola, you need to clean the vongole. Add some sparkling water to a large bowl (still water is also fine) and add two large handfuls of salt to it. Add the vongole and let them rest like so for roughly two hours. This way they will release any remaining sand they may still contain.
Once you’re ready to cook, rinse them under abundant water and prepare a pan with some olive oil, the parsley stalks, on clove of garlic and the chilly.
When it’s warm and sizzling, add the vongole and the white wine and cover with a lid. Occasionally move the pan around. In 4-5 minutes they should all have opened, this means they’re cooked.
Pass them through a tight knit sieve and save the cooking water. This will help in removing any remaining sand and sheel pieces. Discard the garlic and the parsley stalks and remove half of the vongole from their shells, and leave the others as a decoration. Set your vongole and vongole water aside for later.
Start preparing your fregola: add your olive oil and remaining garlic and bring to a sizzle then add your tomatoes and let it cook for a few minutes.
Add the fregola, simmer and cook it as you would do with risotto, by gradually adding the vongole water and vegetable broth. Add salt and pepper to taste and keep on adding water until the fregola is al dente.
Add your vongole and mix them in. Turn off the stove and add the parsley and some olive oil and serve immediately!
