Treacle Back Bacon
A sticky, sweet treacle cure for homemade back bacon with a hint of orange and juniper.
Recipe: Spaghetti with Bottarga
Simple pasta dish with a salty, umami kick from bottarga.
Bottarga is the cured and dried roe of a fish (usually a grey mullet). It is spectacularly expensive — but fortunately, a little goes a long way. Its strong, fishy, salty, umami-packed flavor transforms simple pasta into something extraordinary. If you’re in London, I recommend a trip to I Camisa & Son to purchase it. Alternatively, you can find bottarga online.
Ingredients
Dried Pasta
100g
Olive Oil
2 tbsp
Bottarga (¼ of a lobe)
30g
Garlic
0.5 clove
Chilli Flakes
0.5 tsp
Curly Parsley
15g
Instructions
Cook the Pasta
- Cook pasta in salted water until al dente, following packet instructions (usually around 12 minutes).
Prepare the Bottarga
- Peel the outer membrane from the bottarga.
- Finely grate the bottarga using a microplane.
Prepare the Dish
- Warm olive oil in a pan over gentle heat. Add chilli flakes and garlic and cook gently for a couple of minutes.
- Stir in the grated bottarga and allow it to warm up for 30 seconds.
- Add the cooked pasta, parsley, and a small splash of pasta water to the pan.
- Cook for another minute, adjust the seasoning to taste, and serve immediately.
Notes
- A far cheaper and less fishy alternative to bottarga is cured egg yolks. They provide a good umami hit with a similar texture.
- This recipe serves one, but it’s easy to scale for additional servings by adjusting the quantities.
