Bucatini with Bottarga

[Mikey]

I decided to try something a little different last night.

Bucatini is an Italian pasta that looks a lot like spaghetti but with a hole running through the center. I think it's supposed to hold onto any sauce you use a little better. Bottarga as made from the roe of grey mullet, salted and cured. Fairly common in Italian cooking. You can get it in whole pieces or already grated. I got this jar that was previously grated and used it in this dish.

Basically, you make the sauce and then toss the cooked pasta in it. The sauce has bottarga, lemon zest, lemon juice, EVOO, Italian parsley and salted (rinsed) capers.

Bottarga




Lemon zest added




Completed sauce




Served on a plate with grilled boneless chicken thighs and a kale Caesar salad. The whole thing made a great combination.

[Roux]

I confess that I have never heard of either bucatini or bottarga, so rack you for the edification. I definitely want to try bucatini.

[Mikey]

I didn’t know what either of those was until a few years ago. I’ve been doing some exploration of Italian cooking recently. A lot of their ingredients and methods go back many centuries and can be very regional. Italy, after all, wasn’t formed until the 1860s. Another example is something called colatura di alici (anchovy drippings). A clear fish sauce made from anchovies caught in a certain place during a certain time of the year and fermented for like four years in barrels made from a certain kind of wood. It’s something you can also add to pasta for a big kick of umami.

25 year aged balsamic is pretty special also.

[Roux]

umami

Speaking of which, this is something that needs to be in your spice rack. Good stuff.

[88BuckeyeGrad]

Bucatini is a go-to pasta here. But rarely with such a light sauce. It is best in my opinion when used with a rich, heavy, red sauce. We use it with sweet sausage, peppers, black olives, artichokes, mushrooms, onions, garlic and arrabiata sauce.

For a sauce like you mention, try spaghetti rigati. It is like spaghetti (similar size, but no hole in the middle), but has a fluted outer side. Would hold that light sauce well. Bronze cut if you can find it.

[mvscal]

Bronze cut if you can find it.

If you can't, eat something else. The pasta should appear chalky and a little rough. De Cecco is a good brand that is available most everywhere.

[HighPlainsGrifter]

25 year aged balsamic is pretty special also.

This.

I discovered dennimoso vinegar a few years ago. Changed my culinary world.

[Dr_Phibes]

Bucatini is a go-to pasta here. But rarely with such a light sauce. It is best in my opinion when used with a rich, heavy, red sauce.

But wouldn't a heavy sauce not fill the Bucatini? You'd need something light to penetrate the hole in the pasta.

I am in solidarity with Mikey's choice of sauce, providing he doesn't set fire to the kitchen.

[88BuckeyeGrad]

Bucatini is a go-to pasta here. But rarely with such a light sauce. It is best in my opinion when used with a rich, heavy, red sauce.

But wouldn't a heavy sauce not fill the Bucatini? You'd need something light to penetrate the hole in the pasta.

I thought so too. But what I have found is that bucatini has a larger outer diameter than spaghetti and thus has more outer surface area for the sauce as compared to spaghetti. I doubt that much sauce of any kind would find its way into the hole in the center of bucatini. I think the hole keeps the pasta from being a cord or lump, but provides a broader noodle for the sauce to grip. I like light sauces on capellini and heavier sauces on fettuccine etc.

[Mikey]

Yes, this is a pretty light sauce but it actually packs a lot of flavor. And you add a small amount of the pasta water when you toss it to make more of it stick. The bottarga packs a fair amount of umami and, if you use really good capers, they add a lot too. I picked up some salt-packed capers imported from Italy. They're about twice the diameter and eight times the flavor (do the math) of the tiny ones you get in a jar at the store. The grilled chicken thighs were pretty light, just marinated in some Italian dressing, so it was a good combination.

[Rootbeer]

They're about twice the diameter and eight times the flavor (do the math) of the tiny ones

Day 16, btw.

[mvscal]

They're about twice the diameter and eight times the flavor (do the math) of the tiny ones

Day 16, btw.

He was assured that there would be no math. This is lies.

[mvscal]

I doubt that much sauce of any kind would find its way into the hole.

[Mikey]

I thought Python was still working on his P’s and Q’s. I guess I underestimated.

[Dr_Phibes]

umami

Speaking of which, this is something that needs to be in your spice rack. Good stuff.

Or you could just keep herbs and spices in your spice rack. I had to look 'Umami' up, no idea MSG had been given an exotic new name. You learn something new every day.