🍲 Fregola with Clams
Fregola con arselle is a Sardinian dish of fregola — small toasted beads of semolina pasta — simmered with clams in a light tomato broth scented with garlic, parsley and saffron. The pasta absorbs the briny juices of the clams and keeps a pleasant, nutty chew from the toasting. It is served soupy in a deep plate, somewhere between a stew and a risotto.
Diets
Allergens
Contains (in a typical recipe):
What it is made of
Recipe
Ingredients
- 300 g fregola
- 1 kg fresh clams, purged of sand
- 300 g ripe tomatoes, chopped
- 3 garlic cloves, sliced
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 1 pinch saffron threads, soaked in 100 ml warm water
- Small bunch of parsley, chopped
- Chilli flakes (optional)
Method
- Open the clams in a covered pan with 1 tbsp oil and a splash of water over high heat for 3–4 minutes; strain and keep the liquid.
- Soften the garlic in the remaining oil, add the tomatoes and cook for 5 minutes.
- Add the fregola, the saffron water and the clam liquid topped up with hot water to about 900 ml.
- Simmer for 12–15 minutes, stirring, until the fregola is tender and the dish is still soupy.
- Return the clams, sprinkle with parsley and serve at once.
How to make it lighter
- Clams are lean; add more clams and less fregola to the plate for a lighter portion.
- Keep the oil to 1–2 tbsp for the pan: 1 tbsp oil ≈ 120 kcal.
- Serve a green salad or grilled vegetables alongside rather than bread.
History
Fregola is a traditional Sardinian pasta, rolled by hand from semolina and toasted in the oven. Paired with arselle, the small clams of the island's lagoons and beaches, it is a typical dish of southern Sardinia, especially around Cagliari.
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Values are estimates per 100 g for a typical recipe; home and restaurant versions vary. Diets and allergens are worked out from the ingredients of a typical recipe — always check with whoever cooked the dish. Not medical advice. Nutrition data: Me Nutrition dish database v13. How we count →