TABELIAAUTHENTIC RECIPE
Fregola con AragostaFregola with Spiny Lobster
A soupy pasta dish combining Sardinia’s distinctive round fregola with spiny lobster: an island treasure full of Mediterranean abundance.
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Ingredients (4 servings)
- Fregola, round pasta280 g
- Small to medium spiny lobsterHalve lengthways1
- Cherry tomatoes200 g
- White wine150 ml
- Extra virgin olive oil60 ml
- Flat-leaf parsleyFinely chopped1 bunch
Method
Sear the lobster and reduce with wine
- 1 Halve the lobster lengthways.
- 2 Heat 60 ml olive oil in a frying pan over high heat and sear the lobster shell-side down.
- 3 When the shell is red and smells toasted, after about 4 minutes, turn over and add 150 ml white wine.
- 4 Reduce to medium heat and simmer for 2–3 minutes; remove the lobster when the alcoholic smell around the pan has gone and the liquid has reduced by about half.
Simmer tomato soup in the lobster juices
- 1 Add the cherry tomatoes to the same pan and crush them; add 600 ml water and simmer for 20 minutes.
Ready when
Continue when the soup is fragrant with the lobster’s released savory flavor.
Cook the fregola in the soup
- 1 Add 280 g fregola directly to the soup and simmer until al dente, about 10–12 minutes.
Ready when
It is ready when the fregola has absorbed the soup and swelled.
Return the lobster and serve
- 1 Return the lobster and scatter with chopped parsley.
- 2 Leave a generous amount of soup and ladle into bowls.
About this dish
Sardinia’s table has a culture entirely distinct from mainland Italy. Fregola is a leading example: a coarse, granular semolina pasta toasted in the oven for a distinctive nutty aroma, an ingredient unique to Sardinia.
Fregola resembles couscous, but its grains are larger and irregular, with browning adding roasted fragrance. Some theories suggest Arab influence, but its origins reach back to medieval Sardinia and locally it has a strong identity as Sardinian pasta.
The waters of Sardinia, the Mediterranean’s largest island, are exceptionally clear and fishing is thriving. Aragosta, European slipper lobster, inhabits rocky reefs and is a luxury Sardinian ingredient; the fregola absorbs its intense flavor.
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