I had never eaten bottarga before this recipe. Zero, never tasted it. Then I saw it on Alice, it piqued my curiosity and I decided to try it. I bought the tuna one — you can find it more easily and it costs less than the mullet one — and already at the first taste I realized it was not a trivial ingredient.
Bottarga is dried and pressed fish roe. Grated over pasta it delivers a concentrated, decisive taste of the sea that doesn’t resemble any other ingredient I’ve tasted. Mullet bottarga has a lighter color and a more delicate flavor; tuna bottarga is darker and more intense. Regions that produce it include Sardinia and Tuscany for mullet, Calabria and Sicily for tuna. Mullet is considered the most prized and also the most expensive, at least according to the experts, and given my total ignorance on the subject, I have to trust them.
In this pasta I paired shrimp and zucchini: two ingredients that soften the strong character of the bottarga without overpowering it. Long pasta — fresh chitarra spaghetti if you can — and a very generous grating right before serving. Let’s say it’s quick too: twenty minutes and the dish is ready.
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- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Expensive
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Cooking time: 20 Minutes
- Cooking methods: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Spring, Summer and Autumn
Ingredients
- 11 oz pasta (long)
- 3 zucchini
- 5 oz shrimp tails (already cleaned)
- 4 tsp tuna bottarga
- 1 clove garlic
- to taste chopped parsley (fresh)
- to taste extra virgin olive oil
- to taste salt
- to taste pepper
Tools
- Saucepans
Steps
Cut the zucchini into julienne or into thin rounds.
Heat the oil in a pan with the garlic, add the zucchini and cook over medium heat for 5 minutes.Add the shrimp and cook another 3–4 minutes until they change color and turn pink. Season with salt and pepper.
Cook the pasta in a saucepan with plenty of salted water, drain it al dente, reserving a little cooking water that can help you toss the pasta.Toss the pasta (for me long) in the pan with the sauce, adding a ladle of the cooking water if necessary.
Serve with a generous grating of bottarga and freshly chopped parsley.And now to the table, ready to taste!
Enjoy your meal! Annalisa
Bottarga: everything you want to know before cooking it
❓What is the difference between mullet bottarga and tuna bottarga? Mullet bottarga is lighter in color, has a delicate flavor and is more prized. Tuna bottarga is darker, with a more intense and decisive taste, and is easier to find in supermarkets at a slightly lower price.
❓Can I use frozen shrimp? Yes, of course — just thaw them well and pat them dry before putting them in the pan, otherwise they release water and the sauce becomes watery.
❓Which pasta is best to use? Long pasta all the way for me! Fresh chitarra spaghetti are ideal. Regular spaghetti or linguine are also fine, and maybe bucatini too. Avoid short pasta: with grated bottarga it doesn’t blend well.
❓Where can I buy bottarga? At well-stocked supermarkets, at fishmongers or perhaps online. Tuna bottarga is easier to find. It is sold whole in blocks to grate at the moment or already grated in jars, but whole is better — the flavor is fresher.
