Sardinian Botarga Sauce
This recipe had a really special aspect to it. Early on, I realized that, not only would I be in Venice to make it(I would never have been able to find Botarga in Tallahassee) but that Sandi would be there, too. It was travel magic meets Marcella magic!
We went to the Rialto market to buy the special dried fish roe, Botarga. The first place only had tuna and I knew that was wrong but the woman in there told me to go to the store around the block. It seemed like she may have meant the Casa del Parmigiano, so we went in and they did have it there. Botarga purchased, Sandi and I got the other ingredients for the simple sauce, at the market and headed home.
Onions, butter. lemon zest and parsley join the botarga to make a lovely compliment for the pasta.
Here is the botarga in the package:
And here it is, looking very much like caviar, on the plate:
We were both skeptical about the outcome of this dish—too fishy, maybe but, the finished dish was lovely—a perfect lunch with a green salad and a glass of crisp, chilled Soave.
An amazing, charmed, culinary moment for Sandi and me.
I posted on my blog about our wonderful experience.
Venice, The market, your Italian language skills, Marcella’s recipe, Amici.
It is the moments in life that really matter… this was one!
Jan, this looks and sounds lovely. You have just inspired me to make it during our next visit to Venice. Thank you!
Except for your reluctance to use the double consonant in bottarga,
you have done a faultless job. You have even found Victor’s favorite shop in the market for soppressa, burrata, prosciutto, prosciutto cotto, mozzarella di bufala, good butter. The one thing we didn’t get there was parmigiano because the Consorzio in Parma supplied us directly. Someday, if you can get your hands on whole bottarga and carta musica – wafer thin Sardinian sheet music bread – slice the bottarga very, very thin, soften some butter to room temperature, briefly crisp the carta musica in the oven then break off several pieces, pair off approximately matching pieces, butter each of them, cover one piece of buttered bread with slices of bottarga, top with a matching piece of bread, and bite into one of the most heavenly sandwiches you can make. Both bottarga and carta musica are available in the States online, incidentally. I wish I had been with you. I would even have given up one of the consonants.
Did Sandi ever tell you that we found a smaller (and less expensive) container at a shop near the Rialto? LOL No doubt the one you bought tasted far better!