Bottarga Toast with Butter and Lemon

Name: Bottarga Toast with Butter and Lemon
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 3 min
Total time: 8 min
Yield: 2 as an appetiser
Cuisine: Mediterranean
Ingredients: 2 thick slices of sourdough or country bread; 20 g cold unsalted butter; 20 g bottarga, sliced as thinly as possible; ½ lemon; Extra virgin olive oil, to finish; Black pepper

By Bottarga TurkeyLast reviewed 4 August 2026

The classic way to serve slices rather than gratings. Cold butter on hot toast, bottarga laid over the top, lemon at the last moment.

A hand spreading butter with a knife onto a slice of toasted bread over a wooden board of sliced bread

Serves: 2 as an appetiser
Preparation: 5 minutes
Cooking: 3 minutes
Total: 8 minutes

Recommended formatSmall whole lobe: Casa Bottarga PiccoloHow much bottarga: About 10 g per person, sliced as thinly as you can.

Ingredients

2 thick slices of sourdough or country bread
20 g cold unsalted butter
20 g bottarga, sliced as thinly as possible
½ lemon
Extra virgin olive oil, to finish
Black pepper

Method

01Toast the bread until crisp at the edges but still soft in the middle.
02While it is hot, spread it with cold butter in a thin, even layer and let it half melt.
03Cut the bottarga into slices you can almost see through, using a sharp thin knife at a slight angle.
04Lay the slices over the buttered toast so they overlap and warm through.
05Add a squeeze of lemon, a thread of olive oil and a turn of black pepper. Cut in half and serve at once.

Substitutions

Grated bottarga can be used, but the texture of thin slices is the point of this one.

Serving suggestion

Serve as an opening with a cold drink, before anything richer.

Storage

Wrap any unused piece of the lobe and return it to the fridge as its label directs.