Bottarga Butter
By Bottarga Turkey
The most practical thing you can make with bottarga: a butter that turns pasta, toast, grilled fish or hot vegetables into a finished dish with one spoonful. Make it once and it does the work for a week.
- Serves
- About 12 servings
- Preparation
- 10 minutes
- Cooking
- None
- Total
- 10 minutes plus 1 hour chilling
Recommended formatGrated bottarga: Casa Bottarga UmamiHow much bottarga: About 1.5 g of bottarga per serving; a 12 g disc of butter per portion of pasta or per piece of fish.
Ingredients
- 150 g unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 20 g bottarga, very finely grated
- Finely grated zest of ½ lemon and a few drops of juice
- 1 tbsp flat-leaf parsley, very finely chopped (optional)
- Black pepper
Method
- 01Make sure the butter is genuinely soft but not melted; it should take an indent easily.
- 02Beat it in a bowl with a spatula or wooden spoon until it is smooth and slightly paler.
- 03Add the grated bottarga, lemon zest, a few drops of juice, the parsley if using and a turn of black pepper.
- 04Mix thoroughly so the bottarga is evenly distributed rather than pocketed in one place. Do not add salt.
- 05Taste a little on a corner of bread and adjust the lemon if it needs lifting.
- 06Roll the butter in baking paper into a log, twist the ends, and chill for at least an hour until firm enough to slice into discs.
Substitutions
A whole lobe grated finely works just as well. Use unsalted butter; salted butter and bottarga together is too much.
Serving suggestion
Melt a disc over grilled fish, toss it through hot pasta off the heat with a little cooking water, or spread it thinly on warm toast.
Storage
Keep wrapped in the fridge and use within about two weeks, or slice the log into discs and freeze them, taking out one at a time.