Recipe and photo by Emily Scott.
You don’t need to be in Italy to eat like you are. This dish—clams in a saffron broth with fregola, fennel, and olive oil—captures the kind of coastal simplicity that feels effortless but tastes like you planned it. It’s light, fragrant, and brothy, meant to be eaten with your hands and a torn piece of good bread. If you’ve ever had fregola con arselle in a beachside trattoria, this will take you straight back. If you haven’t, this is a good place to start.
This recipe comes from Emily Scott’s new cookbook, Home Shores: Simple Fish Recipes and Stories from the English Coast. While the book is rooted in the English seaside, this particular dish clearly draws from Sardinian flavors—from the toasted fregola to the delicate use of saffron and fennel. It’s the kind of recipe that proves you don’t need complicated technique to make something special.
You cook the fregola separately to keep its bite, then build a quick broth with fish stock, shallots, and shaved fennel. The clams steam open in the pot, and everything is finished with lemon, parsley, and a hint of fennel pollen. The result is clean, layered, and deeply satisfying.
Serve it in warm bowls with crusty bread and a glass of something chilled. It’s easy enough for a weeknight, but feels elevated enough for company. We included this excerpt because it fits so seamlessly into the way we cook—and the way we want to eat.
« The delicate fragrances of fennel and safron are helped along by the smallest of pastas – fregola, which simply marries everything together. A really good party. »
Clams with Fregola, Fennel Pollen and Saffron Broth
Ingredients
- pinch of saffron strands
- juice of 1 lemon
- 100 g 3½ oz fregola
- 1 teaspoon plus 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 banana shallot, thinly sliced
- 1 fennel bulb, thinly sliced
- 500 ml 17 fl oz/generous 2 cups fish stock
- 700 g 1 lb 9 oz clams, cleaned (discard any that are open)
- 1 teaspoon fennel pollen or crushed fennel seeds
- 2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley leave, plus extra to serve
- sea salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- crusty bread, to serve
Instructions
- Place the sa!ron in a bowl, squeeze over the lemon juice and leave to steep.
- Bring a saucepan of water to the boil and cook the fregola at a simmer for 8–10 minutes, or according to the packet instructions. Drain and set aside in a bowl, drizzled with the teaspoon of olive oil.
- Heat the 2 tablespoons of oil in a medium saucepan that has a lid, add the shallot and fennel, and cook until softened and translucent. Add the fish stock and bring to the boil, then add the clams. Cover the pan and cook until the clams pop open (discard any that do not open).
- Stir in the steeped sa!ron, fennel pollen or seeds, fregola and chopped parsley, then season with salt and pepper. Serve in warmed bowls with extra parsley and crusty bread.
Excerpt from Home Shores: Simple Fish Recipes and Stories from the English Coast by Emily Scott (Hardie Grant, 2024).