History

Fregola is made by rubbing semolina and water into irregular pearls and toasting them in the oven, a technique documented in Sardinia since at least the fourteenth century and closely related to North African couscous. Arselle are the small clams of the island's lagoons and shallow bays, including the Calich behind Alghero. The pairing is the standard Sardinian coastal first course and appears in Alghero on almost every fish list, sometimes widened with prawns or mussels. The toasting is the point: it gives the pearls a nutty edge and stops them dissolving into the broth.

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Common allergens: Gluten, Molluscs

Make it at home

Yield Serves 4Hands-on 25 minTotal 45 minDifficulty Easy

Ingredients

  • 300g fregola sarda, medium grade
  • 1kg small clams, purged in salted water for 2 hours
  • 2 garlic cloves, sliced
  • 300g ripe cherry tomatoes, halved
  • 100ml dry Vermentino
  • 60ml extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 small dried chilli
  • 800ml light fish stock
  • 1 tablespoon chopped flat parsley

Method

  1. Open the clams in a covered wide pan over high heat with the wine, 3 to 4 minutes, and lift them out as they open.
  2. Strain the liquor through muslin and set it aside. Shell two thirds of the clams and keep the rest in shell.
  3. Warm the oil with the garlic and chilli in the same pan, then add the tomatoes and cook for 5 minutes until they collapse.
  4. Add the fregola and toast it in the pan for 2 minutes, stirring.
  5. Pour in the clam liquor and half the stock, and simmer for 12 to 14 minutes, adding stock as the pearls swell.
  6. Return all the clams to the pan for the last 2 minutes and check the salt; the liquor is usually enough.
  7. Finish with the parsley and a thread of raw oil, and serve loose rather than dry.

Tip from the editors. Purge the clams in cold salted water for a full two hours. Grit in the broth cannot be fixed later.

Where to eat fregola con arselle

Fregola con arselle in Alghero

La Lepanto ★ 4.2

€€€ SeafoodCentro Storico

A 110-seat sea-view dining room near Piazza Sulis, La Lepanto is where Alghero visitors go for aragosta, fregola with crustaceans and a raw fish plate.

OrderLobster done the Lepanto way, with a raw seafood plate to open.

Directions Book a table

Mos Tapas ★ 4.2

€€ Spanish tapasCentro Storico

The Mos Tapas terrace in Alghero puts Catalan and Spanish small plates next to Sardinian fish, with an open kitchen facing the main square. TableJourney pick.

Directions

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