Fregola Salad with Fresh Citrus and Red Onion

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The fennel seeds are "done" (lightly toasted when you can smell them.

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This is a really delicious, light, easy recipe. I couldn't find fregola and used orzo instead, which was fine. I personally think the fennel seed doesn't go with it, and leave it out, and I increase the amount of orange & grapefruit, hence the 4-star instead of 5-star rating. But overall, you will love this salad. And it's so nice to have something different to bring to all those summer dish-to-passes! (dishes-to-pass??

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Awesome! I made this recipe with orzo; fresh and light! This was a big hit with my dinner guests.

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This salad is outstanding. Fresh, healthy and bright - it looks and tastes beautiful. I will be making this for many summer potlucks in the future, and I highly recommend it.

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I love the mix of the fruits and mint leaves... a pasta version of a mojito :- This was so delicious... I've been looking for this recipe for a couple of days. I couldn't remember the name of it - I first tasted it at friend's dinner party. Now, it's becoming my favorite summer salad. Thanks!

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I made this with orzo. I would definitely try to make it again with the fregola instead. I suspect it tastes better that way, as Giada suggests in her book. I also left out the fennel seeds since I couldnt find them. With that said, the only thing I would change other than using fregola is increasing the amount of orange and grapefruit, and possibly omitting the mint (or at least tasting it without first. I see what some other people were saying when the compare it to drinking OJ after brushing your teeth. But the red onions do help balance it.

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i made this dish for my cousins baby shower and was a little scared since this was one of the first dishes i had made for a large group. giada's directions were simple and easy to follow. the only problem i had was cooking the fergola. when i boiled the fergola, the chicken broth disappeared almost immediately! i kept pouring in hot water trying to let the pasta cook, i must have put in 8 more cups of water! by the time the pasta was actually cooked (not crunchy it started to clump. I let it dry out and broke up the clumps, added the oil and zest (and other ingredients, and poof! it was a success! people actually took home the leftovers! YAY!

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just made this with the fregole i bought a while ago, which i have been saving specifically to make this salad. i may have to try it again sometime, because i have the feeling that i have undercooked the fregole (the package said 15 minutes, which i think i should have done rather than the 10 - 12 stated here. i tasted a few to test, and i really thought they tasted great, but somehow, they seem to have become rather hard after cooling off for the ten minutes... the red onion is a little harsh for me in this, and i think it could use more citrus since the salad really is mostly fregole. i think next time i will use less onion, cut it even more thinly, add at least one more orange, and try cooking the fregole as per the package's instructions. otherwise, this salad is just a little harsh on the mouth as is (for my taste anyway and i'm pretty much forcing myself to eat it since it's a rather expensive salad and i have a huge bowl of it left over!

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For the poster who complained that this salad was too bitter, if you watched Giada's show she specifically said to use Ruby Red grapefruit. I always buy this to eat for breakfast and it is much sweeter than regular grapefruit. You can't mistake it because the skin is very pink. I hope you try this again using Ruby Red, I think you'll like the combination of flavors.
As for the fregola, I bought some two years ago when the Whole Foods store opened near my home and loved it. I use it for my Italian Wedding Soup. They no longer carry it and I can't find it anywhere except online so I substitute Harvest Grains from Trader Joes. Awesome. Toast them first.

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I normally love the recipes created by Giada De Laurentiis, but I didn't enjoy this one at all. I was shocked because all of the ingredients sounded so promising.

I tracked down the fregola and followed the recipe closely but in the end the bitterness of the grapefruit (or possibly the toasted fregola or the orange zest? came across strongest. The pasta was surprisingly heavy and I found that the citrus dressing wasn't tart enough to lift the pasta out of its density. I added a little lemon juice and some rice wine vinegar. That helped but a sharp bitter flavor still lingered too long. Perhaps I should have used a sweeter grapefruit, or just tripled the orange segments and ditched the grapefruit altogether. Orzo would probably be lighter, too.

Anyway, ended up throwing out a huge bowl of it because no one in the family liked it. $25 of ingredients in the trash. :(