Honorary Dish of the Day: Fregola & Pickled Cucumber Medley
Honorary Dish of the Day: Our second highlight and honorary dish of the day today is this delightfully light and delicious Fregola & Pickled Cucumber Medley 😋. While this may have a strikingly uncanny resemblance to Israeli/Pearl couscous, you will be surprised (just as I was!) to learn that this actually a type of very small pasta known as fregola that originates from Sardinia, Italy. Similar to pearl couscous, it is also made from rolled semolina wheat flour. The original granules in the package were very tiny but they magically bloomed magnificently into the large pearl shapes seen in the picture above during the boiling process. I must say that I greatly enjoyed the taste of this pasta...in fact, I think it tastes so much better than couscous! In addition, given that it is also very light and fluffy, fregola makes for a perfect side dish and can also serve well as a filling ingredient as part of a salad.
To prepare the fregola, I simply boiled about 4 cups of water under high heat in a medium-sized pot and seasoned it with some salt and a dash of olive oil. I then poured in 1 whole packet of fregola, stirred thoroughly and let this cook under medium-high heat for about 10 minutes until the small granules had transformed into small pearls as pictured above. I then immediately drained the boiling water before seasoning the pasta generously with some smoked paprika and a sprinkling of dry parsley flakes. I covered this and set aside.
To prepare the pickled cucumbers, I first peeled about 6 small cucumbers and cut them into about 1/4 inch cylindrical slices as shown above. I placed them in a large glass bowl and set aside. I then heated up my pickling liquid containing about 1 cup of red wine vinegar, 1 cup of water, and 2 teaspoons of brown sugar for about 10 minutes under high heat until it had started to bubble and boil completely. I then turned off the heat, poured the pickling liquid evenly over the cucumber slices until they had been fully submerged, and covered the bowl. I let the pickling process work its magic for about 30 minutes until the slices had become just slightly tender but still crunchy. I then stirred in the pickled cucumber slices into the cooked fregola and served warm as a wonderful accompaniment to my Chicken & Kale Stew. My husband and I both enjoyed this dish immensely...it is not only easy to prepare and incredibly tasty but also a great way to diversify your home menu, so I highly recommended it! Enjoy 😍💖
