This is along the same line as the tarako spaghetti or salted pollock roe spaghetti. In Sardinia they use bottarga, or smelt roe, to make spaghetti. It’s a block of roe that you grate. Sort of like a parmesan of the sea. It’s fishy, salty, and delicious. Really, it’s easy and perfect for a special dinner.
All we like to do is roast a whole bulb of garlic in the oven for 40+ minutes at 400 or so degrees. I pluck out the cloves, mash it with some spaghetti, drizzle some olive oil, and maybe some dried pepper and other herbs. Then you just grate some bottarga right on top. It’s delicious and garlicky and one of our favorite things to do now. It’s great accompanied by something white and sparkly to drink.
The best thing is that it’s easiest thing to do. You just need to go out to a nice Italian store and get some bottarga. They also sell it dried in a bottle, which we haven’t tried yet, but it’s basically all the same. It’s also perfect to have when a vegetarian comes over. Despite the fact that Ryan tried to push it on Tracy, because, “Hey! It’s just eggs. You eat eggs.” Ahem. I don’t think that’s the point. We just boiled some spaghetti, mixed it the bulb of roasted garlic, and grated ours with bottarga and topped hers off with some home made tapenade of sun-dried tomatoes and chopped olives.
