The recipe for fregola in broth

Sardinian recipes and peasant tradition

Our journey starts in Sardinia, the island in the Mediterranean Sea and Italian region that contains many varieties of food and different cultures. Sardinian cuisine is rich in meat-based dishes, but the preparation methods are simple and healthy.

For many years, the traditional soup of Sardinia has been a simple and delicious recipe based on fregola, often enriched with pieces of meat - when available -. In fact, in some recipes the meat is boiled for hours with fregola, herbs and spices, until it becomes tender enough to be consumed as a stew or soup.

To make at home: soup with fregola, Sardinian semolina pasta.

Fregola is made of semolina flour and water, kneaded together into long ropes that resemble long-grain couscous, but larger in size. The texture, once cooked, reminds me of slightly crunchy rice spaghetti: it's really good!

Very popular in the Mediterranean region, quite easy to find in most well-stocked supermarkets, but can be difficult to find outside of Italy. Alternatively, you can use any other type of small pasta, such as stars, pebbles or broken spaghetti.

The recipe is pretty simple and is a great way to use up leftover meat. All you need are carrots and celery, plenty of fresh (or dried) parsley leaves, a few cloves of garlic, a little tomato paste, plus a little olive oil if desired. Here's how to prepare it at home.

The recipe for meat broth with fregola

Ingredients

• 800 g of meat for broth (white steak or other meat)
• 200 g of bone with marrow (osso bucco)
• 300 g of fregola (or small or broken pasta)
• 10 cherry tomatoes
• 4 medium potatoes
• 1 white onion, 1 stick of celery and 1 carrot
• 1 clove of garlic
• parsley to taste
• Salt and Pepper To Taste
• EVO oil qq

Fregola procedure in meat broth

We prepare Italian meat broth thanks to the selection of the boiled meat box. Fry a chopped onion in olive oil, add the meat and, if you have it, the bone with marrow and brown well.

Add water, salt and pepper to taste. Bring to the boil and cook for about an hour over medium heat, or until the meat is tender (it will take at least 1 hour, but adjust according to the size of the pieces).

Halfway through cooking, add the other vegetables. Add the garlic, parsley, carrot, celery and tomatoes; cook for another 15 minutes or until soft enough to mash with a fork.

Strain the broth through cheesecloth into another pot (to remove bones and vegetables) before serving. The vegetables can be served separately as a side dish.

Cook the fregola in salted water (about 2 tablespoons per liter) for 10 minutes al dente, or follow the cooking instructions on the container. Once cooked, serve the fregola in the freshly filtered broth and sprinkle with grated cheese. To embellish the dish, add a small piece of boiled meat.