FREGOLA PASTA RECIPE RECIPES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 360”F.
• Slice the cherry tomatoes in half and place them in a 9x13 inch roasting dish together with 10 garlic cloves in paper, rosemary or thyme and a pinch of sea salt. Drizzle with a couple of tablespoons of olive oil and give everything a good shake to coat all over. Roast in the preheated oven for 35 to 45 minutes until the tomatoes have collapsed and start showing some brown edges. Discard the herb stalks and reserve the roasted garlic cloves.
• Meanwhile bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil. Salt abundantly and cook the fregola according to the directions on the package, stirring often to prevent sticking.Taste for doneness a couple of minutes before the indicated cooking time. Once an al dente texture is achieved drain and rinse quickly under cold water to prevent sticking.
• While the pasta is cooking make the pesto. Add the basil leaves, toasted nuts, grated garlic, olive oil and the juice from one lemon to a food processor and puree using the pulse button until desired texture is achieved. Transfer to a large mixing bowl and season to taste with sea salt and more lemon or olive oil as desired.
• Add the cooked fregola to the bowl with the pesto sauce and toss to coat well all over. Mix in half of the roasted tomatoes and reserve the rest to pile up over the top when serving.

Steps:

• Start by peeling and deveining fresh shrimps. You can leave tip of the tail on (easier to bite on) or remove it completely.
• If you bought whole shrimps, reserve the heads and boil them for a few minutes with your vegetable of fish stock.
• In a large skillet pan add extra virgin olive oil and garlic cloves crushed with a flat knife.
• Let it lightly brown and infuse the oil. If you like leave the garlic to cook further or remove it from the pan.
• Add shrimps and peperoncino to taste. Roast shrimps for about a minute on each side until they get nice pink color.
• Add tomato quarters and chopped parsley. Let simmer for 2-3 minutes until tomatoes become soft.
• At this point add dry fregola, toss it around the pan with the sauce. In a minutes tinge it with white wine.
• Once wine is completely evaporated start cooking fregola as you would cook rice for risotto.
• Add 1 ladle of hot vegetable or fish stock. Let simmer until the first ladle is absorbed, after that add another ladle. Cook fregola for 20-25 minutes. It should remain slightly ‘al dente’.
• Serve immediately.