August 16, 2012

Not your average kitchen staple

Can you guess what this is? I’ll give you three clues: it’s used in Italian cooking, it is not grown on plants, and it is not commonly found in grocery stores (and obviously it begins with the letter F).
….Give up? The image to the right is a picture of fregola. “Fregola?,” you ask. Yes, fregola (pronounced fre-ghol-uh).

Fregola are semolina pasta nuggets that have been toasted. Essentially, they are toasted granules of Israeli couscous (large grains of couscous pasta). While fregola is normally shaped in perfectly round balls, it can also come in more rugged, random pieces, as any little scraps leftover from pasta making can be toasted, thus resulting in fregola.

I do have to admit, though, fregola is very hard to find in grocery stores. I searched long and hard for the pasta in many stores and finally came across my object of ambition at Balducci’s, a specialty gourmet store located in bustling metropolitan cities, like New York City. Even though it’s a tough find, fregola is worth the quest.

Because it is a pasta made from semolina flour, fregola does taste very much like the pasta with which we are so familiar and love so dearly; however, when the dried pasta is toasted, the natural oils and aromas in the semolina are brought to life, creating a robust, golden delicacy with a slightly chewy bite.

Prior to cooking fregola, it should be rinsed under cold water, then cooked in a boiling pot of cooking liquid, either stock or salted water, for about 10-15 minutes, or until al dente. Enjoy a hot bowl of fregola as you would any other pasta, tossed with bolognese, marinara, or pesto. Or, try it pilaf-style as an accompaniment to a meat entree. Fregola can also be eaten as a salad, served chilled or at room temperature.

Food Network celebrity chef Giada De Laurentiis makes a fabulous citrus fregola salad:

Ingredients –
For the orange oil:
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 orange, zested

For the fregola:
8 cups chicken broth
1 lb. fregola
1 orange
1 pink grapefruit
1 small red onion, thinly sliced
1/2 cup chopped fresh mint
1/4 cup fresh chopped basil leaves
1/2 Tbsp. fennel seeds, lightly toasted
1 tsp. coarse salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper
Directions –
For the orange oil, combine the olive oil and the orange zest in a bowl and set aside. For the salad, bring a large saucepan of chicken broth to a boil over high heat. Add the fregola and cook until tender, but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 10-12 minutes. Drain the pasta onto a large baking dish. Spread to a single layer to allow it to cool for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, using a small paring knife, cut the skin off the orange and the grapefruit. Over a large bowl, cut out the segments of the citrus flesh and catch the juices. Add the onion, mint, basil, fennel seeds, salt, pepper, and cooled fregola. Add the reserved orange oil to the pasta. Toss all the ingredients together and serve.

Filed Under: A-Z food education