Using "Sa Fregula Sarda" ?

[sixelagogo]

I puchased a 500g bag of "La Casa Del Grano: Le Fregole Sa Fregula Sard" ...it looks like toasted isreli couscous..

Has anyone ever used this stuff before? Any ideas on how to use?

[njmarshall55]

Has anyone tried Lidia's process for making home made fregola?
http://www.lidiasitaly.com/recipes/de...

[erica]

No but I made a fregula and roasted corn dish similar to this one (see lower part of page) a few times last summer--to rave reviews! I think the recipe I used can be found in ITALIAN GRILL.

http://babbonyc.com/rec-guineahen.html

Note that store-bought fregula come in at least two sizes--small and medium.

[Splendid Spatula]

Mario Batali's Sicilian Lifeguard Calamari http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ma...

I sub fregola for the couscous, par cook it, then add it in to the sauce to finish.

[THewat]

My very-good-cook-of-a-brother served me fregula the other day with wild mushrooms on top and a green salad - outstanding light lunch.

[KilgoreTrout]

When I was a line cook at a chi-chi Manhattan Italian joint, we cooked it with chicken stock, shallots and herbs. Then when cooled mixed with shaved from the cob corn plus thyme and brunoised peppers. It was the side for a lamb dish.

[bushwickgirl]

Nice, Kilgore. And the lamb dish was how?

[KilgoreTrout]

IIRC it was a lamb tenderloin. Herb and garlic rubbed, grilled mid rare, sliced and fanned across the fregola. We are talking 2005/2006ish, one of the BR Guest restaurants. Real nice and clean flavors. It was the first I had seen of fregola, as I had limited experience with real Mediterranean food up till then.

[LulusMom]

Well, I had remembered this as being made with fregula (and that is, I am sure, what I made it with) but here in the link it is made with israeli couscous. But it is a delicious and easy dish: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ma...

[harryharry]

I make a it as a warm side or cold salad - boiled like pasta - cooled and mixed with slow roasted tomatoes that have been roasted in olive oil, thyme and garlic - add the garlic, thyme and olive oil to the fregola, and the tomatoes, add crumbled goat cheese and chiffonade of basil - if you're serving this hot, add the basil at the last minute, if serving cold, add any time - serve with lamb or fish,etc.....

[lidia]

I have had it a few times, always served with a white seafood sauce, usually clams, along the lines of this recipe (although this one features tomatoes as well):
http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/sardinian-clams-with-fregola

Here's a decidedly soupy version:
http://www.gourmetsardinia.com/pdf/GS...

When it has been served to me, the consistency was more of a risotto.

[Rubee]

I'm a fan of that Sardinian clam soup, and make mine with a seafood stock or clam juice with white wine, tomatoes, and saffron.

Picture:
http://www.chow.com/photos/665481

[twinsue]

when I bought this (fregula) in Milan, I also bought something call Tempestina,which looks like tine fregula. I assume I cook it the same way as the fregula but for less time. Anyone familiar with it?

[lidia]

Tempestina is a quick-cooking tiny pasta for soup. There are many tiny pastas which seem to be used mostly for young children and the elderly. I have never been served them, nor seen them eaten by healthy adults in anyone's home. They're a meal for babies or for frugal grandmas with no teeth (the broth in these cases is rigorously from commercial chicken bouillon cubes, N.B.).

Tempestina gets its name, I believe, because when it's whirling around in the boiling broth, it looks like a whirlwind storm: a "tempesta".

"Tiny pasta for the first months":
http://www.sanitariasabatelli.it/medi...

[bushwickgirl]

Well, I'm neither a baby or a grandma, although I'm certainly approaching grandma status, age wise, and I enjoyed a bowl of chicken soup with tiny meatballs and fregola today. Very comforting stuff, especially in the bone chilled frozen apple that is NYC right now. Beyond fregola, I also like pastina, stelle, conchigliette, melone or any other tiny pasta shapes in soup when I'm feeling drained, either physically or emotionally.

I do know what you mean though, the best for babies, invalids and grandmas.

[twinsue]

Lidia was referring to the pasta I was asking about, Tempetina, which is tinier fregula. In Italy it may be considered old people/baby food because it requires little or no chewing. It's littlier than all the pastas you listed. It's weeny!

[bushwickgirl]

That was understood. Teeny or weeny, it's still fine in soup. Just suck it down, in a good soup, no chewing required. It's not about the the size, it's about comfort

[lidia]

"drained, either physically or emotionally. "

Enough said. :-)

There is something about micro-pasta that lends itself to the infirm. I wasn't making a negative value judgment, just an observation, the same that you yourself made.

We don't tend to use it at all, but I keep 2-3 types on hand because you never know.

[Matty J]

Fregola gets compared to couscous all over the internet, but it looks (and -- cooked right -- feels) to me more like corn. Does anyone know whether it's a winking nod/allusion to/counterfeit of that post-Columbian addition to Italian cuisine?

In fact, the more I look at my plateful tonight, the more the "burnt" bits suggest that they've been artfully crafted to mimic pine nuts. Dot dot dot ...

[djk]

there's a recipe on the bag that i always make and doctor a bit - clams, tomato sauce, hot peppers or arrabiata spices and a little saffron. excellent.

[JudiAU]

Taste often while cooking. Most instructions produce an overcooked mushy product.

[Rubee]

Great for either warm or cold salads too - in the summer, with feta, tomatoes, and cucumbers with an herbed vinaigrette. In the winter with grilled shrimp and caramelized leeks.

Here's a link to some other good suggestions:

http://www.chowhound.com/topics/376643

[chez cherie]

you hit it---i prepare fregula the same way i do israeli couscous. saute some shallots or garlic in butter (or olive oil) , add the fregula and toast. add chicken stock to cover by about 1/2 inch and simmer until tender. love the rustic texture and nutty flavor.