The Sardinian Kitchen

Fregola with clams

I am really excited to post my second recipe from “The Sardinian Kitchen” series that I have recently created and tested for you.

When I think about food for celebration from home, I think about seafood. Now more than ever as it is not that easy to find good fresh seafood and also so expensive in London. So eating clams is really a treat reserved to special occasions.

Make sure you place the clams in a bowl with water as soon as you can. This will allow the clams to open and clean from any sand they might have.

Fregola is a special type of Sardinian pasta made with semolina flour and water. You can buy it online or if you have a deli near you then they might have it. If you want to prepare everything from scratch then follow my previous recipe for Fregola.

Feel free to write if you have any questions or to let me know how you get on!

INGREDIENTS

500g fresh clams

20ml olive oil

1 garlic clove

10g parsley

1 chilli

100ml white wine

400g plum peeled tomatoes

1 tsp salt

150g fregola

A bunch of fresh parsley to serve.

INSTRUCTIONS

The first thing to do as soon as you buy the clams, is to place them in water for a couple of hours. This is done to help the clams release all the sand. Also if there are any open clams, lightly tap them to the side of the sink. If they do not close, discard them.

Now peel the garlic clove and chop it really finely. Slice the parsley in a half along the long side. If you are not a big fan of spicy food, remove it from the recipe.

In a large pan heat up the oil with the garlic, parsley and chilli for 2 minutes. In the meantime, drain the clams and rinse them under the tap.

Add them into the pan. Bring the flames to a medium heat and place the lid on.

Shake the pan a few times to help the clams to open. Mine started to open after just 4 minutes and were all open within 6 minutes.

If you find any stubborn clams that do not want to open, then wait an extra minute for them to open. Avoid opening them with a knife but just discard them instead if they stay closed.

Now add in the white wine and wait for it to be completely evaporated.

Add in the fregola and 200ml of boiling water.

Cook for 5 minutes then add in the tomato sauce and season to taste.

My advice is to follow the instructions on the package to have a rough idea of the cooking times of your fregola. Although as timings on packages are not always accurate, by tasting it you will make sure that it is perfectly cooked. Mine was ready in about 20 minutes.

Sprinkle some fresh parsley on the top before serving.

Buon appetito!

The Sardinian Kitchen

Fregola

I grew up in Sardinia, a relatively small island in the Mediterranean sea. When I moved to London my first mission was to try and find ingredients and produce from home. Luckily almost everything I need is available in this big city. Certain things are a bit harder to find, so I had to be creative and cook things by myself. My passion for cooking ignited, so I actually tried some traditional recipes that are renown to be particularly long, such as this one.

This Sardinian staple resembles couscous, although the procedure to make them is quite different.

It comes in different sizes, small and big. The small balls are used traditionally to make minestra, the larger ones for minestrone, two different types of soups. Nowadays can be used to cook some delicious seafood or meat stews with tomato sauce.

The action of making these tiny balls I found quite soothing, I hope you will enjoy it!

Keep following this blog for more Sardinian and Italian inspired recipes.

Doses for 4 people

Preparation time: 1hour 

INGREDIENTS

250g coarse semolina flour

125ml warm water

INSTRUCTIONS

Traditionally Sardinians would use a very large circular terracotta bowl called “scivedda” to make fregula. Find a similar large bowl possibly made of terracotta. Place the water in a separate bowl. Pour 50g of semolina flour all around the bowl, then add in a few drops of water in the middle. 

Stir very slowly with your finger tips making circular motions all around the bowl, add a few more drops of water and keep stirring. Slowly sprinkle a  handful of semolina flour into the bowl and stir again. Repeat the procedure several times until many small balls of 3-5mm diameter form. 

Do not apply too much pressure or the balls will flatten. Keep it moist but not too wet.

Preheat the oven to 220ºC 

Rest the fregola balls in a tray covered with a table cloth for 15 min.

Separate the small balls from big balls and cook in two different trays for 10 min at for the big ones and 1min for the small ones.