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Italian · V The Canonical Dishes · Sardinia

Fregola Sarda con Arselle

Cagliari, Sardinia

‹ Sardinia

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I

Origin

Sardinia — Cagliari and coastal Sardinia

II

Description

Sardinian toasted semolina pasta (fregola) cooked with telline or arselle (small clams) in a tomato-based broth. Fregola are small, irregular hand-rolled semolina balls toasted in the oven until varying shades of gold and brown — the toast level creates depth of flavour absent from untoasted pasta. The arselle open in a dry pan, releasing their liquor; fregola is then added and cooked risotto-style, absorbing the clam broth and additional water in stages. A saffron thread and flat-leaf parsley finish the dish. The texture should be al dente with a slightly soupy consistency — not dry.

III

The Thread

—Both are hand-rolled semolina balls cooked by absorption — fregola and maftoul are likely historically related through Maghrebi influence on Sardinian cuisine Israeli/North · African
—Thin pasta toasted and cooked risotto-style in shellfish broth — same technique of toasting pasta then cooking by absorption in seafood liquor Spanish
—Toasted small pasta shapes cooked in broth by absorption — the technique of toasting pasta before cooking spans Mediterranean and Levantine traditions Turkish
IV

Flavour Context

Nutty from toasting, briny from arselle, perfumed with saffron; each fregola grain has absorbed the sea into its toasted shell — the dish tastes deeply oceanic and uniquely Sardinian

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