Pasta alla Bottarga

By John, 20 September, 2020
Region
Italy
Description

Pasta alla BottargaNothing could be simpler than this epicure's favorite from centuries past - good pasta tossed with a Great Single-Estate Extra-Virgin Olive Oil and savory bottarga, like gold dust on your dinner.

Bottarga is the dried, compressed roe of either mullet (Sardinian bottarga) or tuna (Sicilian bottarga). The ancient Romans used bottarga as a salty-fishy seasoning similar to the way we use anchovies today, but the gratable form offers more culinary options. Of course, they had no pasta a millennium before Marco Polo's famous voyage of discovery, but we do now, and it's a very fine match indeed!

Yield
4 Servings
Preparation time
15 minutes
Ingredients
12 oz Spaghetti (or other pasta)
2 T Extra-Virgin Olive Oil
3 oz Bottarga
Instructions
  1. Cook the pasta.
  2. While the pasta boils, grate half of the bottarga into a large bowl, then add the olive oil and stir it together.
  3. When the pasta is finished, drain it and toss it in the bowl with the oil-bottarga mixture.
  4. Transfer the pasta to a serving platter and grate the remaining bottarga over the finished pasta.
  5. Serve hot. Grated cheese is never added to this simple dish.
Notes
I have bought mullet bottarga at Salumeria Italiana on Richmond Street in Boston's North End.