Fregola con Verdure

Fregola with vegetables is a typical first course offering in Sardinia. It’s simple to prepare – about the same time as it would take you to make a pasta dish – full of flavor and texture, and honestly…just a bit unusual.

Fregola (called fregula in Sardinia) is made from strong durum wheat, formed into tiny pellets (sort of like couscous, but much larger). It is commonly toasted very slowly to give it an unusual chewy texture and sort of a biscuit-like flavor. It is often used in soups and stews, and mostly served as the first dish – quite like risotto dishes within the Italian mainland.

The recipe I am presenting takes advantage of late-summer seasonal vegetables – basically all the vegetables found in a Provencal ratatouille. You can replace some or all of the vegetables easily to reflect different seasons. Use pumpkin and mushrooms in late fall and winter, or fresh asparagus and peas during the spring. You can also change the spices from saffron to include turmeric or curry. And as far as the fregola…well, if you can’t find it in your area, then substitute Israeli couscous, Lebanese pearl couscous (called moghrabieh) or any other variety of pearl couscous or pearl barley.

Difficulty: simple
Yield: makes about 4-6 servings