Fregola is a small, pearl-like pasta made from durum wheat semolina, about the size of peppercorns, and a Sardinian speciality. It is often sold as ‘Fregula Tostata’ in well-stocked Italian food shops. It is called this because this type of pasta is not dried slowly, but roasted in the oven.
In Sardinia, “fregola con arselle” is a classic dish, consisting of fregola with wedge clams, which are slightly smaller than venus clams (Italian: “vongole”). However, fregola ai frutti di mare, served with various types of seafood, has also become very popular – probably due to tourism.
If using mussels, first rinse them with water and then soak them in lightly salted water for 30–60 minutes to wash out any sand. Discard any broken mussels. We have explained this in more detail using the example of spaghetti alle vongole.
Then heat a little olive oil with a peeled, whole clove of garlic over medium heat. Add the mussels, which have been rinsed again, with a little white wine and cook for 5 minutes with the lid on, shaking the pot repeatedly.
Then pour the mussels through a sieve and collect the delicious mussel broth. Discard any mussels that are still closed. Sort out a few decorative shells with mussel meat, otherwise remove the mussels from their shells. Discard the garlic clove as well.
Calamaretti, or small squid, are washed and cut into bite-sized pieces. If they are covered with a thin, purple or reddish-spotted skin, this should be removed as it can become tough when cooked. This can be done easily by hand.
This is what they look like when they are cleaned and ready for cooking; now they just need to be cut up
Gamberetti, small to medium-sized prawns, are peeled and washed, and the intestine on the back is removed. Here you can see different techniques for doing this.
Of course, all other types of seafood or fish also go well with this dish. However, we don’t want to overload it, so we’ll stick to these three ingredients.
In a large pan, heat a further peeled, whole clove of garlic in olive oil over a medium heat. After 2 minutes, add chopped tinned tomatoes. Unlike some recipes, we do not use onions or chopped garlic at this stage, as we do not want to distract from the taste of the sea.
After another 3 minutes, stir the fregola into the tomatoes and from now on cook the pasta as you would cook a risotto.
To do this, first pour in the mussel stock and let it boil down while stirring. Then gradually add fish stock, only 1–2 ladles at a time.
Fregola need about 13–15 minutes to reach the right degree of doneness – they should be ‘al dente’, i.e. no longer raw inside, but still firm to the bite.
Halfway through the cooking time, after about 7 minutes, add the squid and prawns. Both cook quickly.
When the fregola are almost done, season with freshly ground black pepper and salt. Then add the pre-cooked mussels and some chopped parsley to the pan; neither need to be cooked any further.
Remove the pan from the heat, cover with a lid and leave to rest for 3 minutes before serving in deep plates.
Enjoy.
And may the taste be with you.
Ingredients (for 2 people):
3 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves of garlic
350 g seafood such as mussels, squid, prawns…
(if using only mussels, 500 g)
150 ml dry white wine
160 g fregola
200 ml fish stock
150 g tomatoes (tinned)
Freshly ground black pepper
Salt
Parsley
