Semolina rolled into rough pellets, toasted until nutty, then simmered in the broth of tiny arselle clams. It is the plate Cagliari is judged on, soupy rather than dry, eaten with a spoon in the Marina.
Fregola is made by rubbing coarse semolina with salted water in a wide terracotta basin until it beads, then toasting the beads in the oven, which gives the pasta its colour and its smell. The technique is old and shared across the western Mediterranean, closest in method to North African couscous, and it has been documented in Sardinia for centuries. The arselle are the small clams raked from the lagoons and shallows around the Golfo degli Angeli, so the dish is a direct product of the water the city sits on. Cagliari serves it wetter than the inland versions, closer to a soup, with garlic, parsley, a little tomato and the clam liquor doing the seasoning.
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