I thought we could welcome spring with one of my favorite recipes from Near & Far. It’s the perfect lunchy, brunch dish, and it’s made with fregola. Fregola is a beautiful, tasty Sardinian pasta made from hard durum wheat flour – rolled, sun-dried, and toasted to a mix of shades of yellow, gold, and brown. The pasta is rustic and nutty, each grain with a raggy surface adept at catching flavor. It’s so good.
Let’s Make Something with Fregola!
Toss the fregola with ribbons of endive, toasted hazelnuts, capers and basil, and you have a salad that is a little bit nutty, a hint briny, herbaceous, and filling. I tend to make this during shoulder seasons. As spring evolves into summer, or as summer shifts into fall — tweaking the herbs based on what is available and vibrant. It’s also amazing with roasted cherry tomatoes mid-summer. A long way of saying that it’s hard to go wrong here.
It’s worth sourcing fregola if you can. That said, this is also great using orzo pasta, or Israeli couscous. I like the grip of the fregola, but sleeker orzo is always a crowd pleaser. if you’re looking for other pasta ideas, here are all my favorite pasta recipes. This homemade cavatelli is super fun, same goes for this pappardelle – and you can never go wrong with homemade pesto. Enjoy!
