My search for bottarga began after a trip to Florence last year. "Order this," said my friend, pointing to an item on the menu -- spaghetti alla bottarga. We were having lunch in a cobblestoned courtyard restaurant.
"What is it?" I asked.
"I don't know," he said, "but it's delicious."
I was served a plate of unadorned spaghetti that tasted salty and nutty and -- there's no other way to describe it -- delicious.
Six months later, my husband and I were in New York having dinner at the Union Square Café.
He ordered the pasta appetizer, a simple dish of spaghetti dusted with a little parsley and toasted bread crumbs.
"Mmm. Taste this," he said, pushing a forkful onto my plate.
"What is it?"
"I don't know, but it's delicious."
This time, I asked.
"Bottarga," the waiter said. "Dried, salted mullet roe."
Back in Toronto, I found recipes on the Internet. Easy. Spaghetti, olive oil, garlic, parsley -- and bottarga. I visited my favourite fish markets: Pisces on Yonge Street, Mike's Fish in the St. Lawrence Market. I tried some specialty Italian food stores: Magnolia on College, Pasquale's on King. I asked my friends. No luck.
Then I read a story in this newspaper about bottarga at the Fancy Food Show in New York. I called the writer. "Where can I get bottarga in Toronto?"
She directed me to Cesy D'Alfonso, who, with her husband, Mario, runs an Italian food import business called Genhome near the airport.
"Italian caviar. Very special stuff," D'Alfonso said when I called her. She explained that bottarga is a Sardinian specialty: mullet roe that is salted, rinsed, dried in the sun and pressed. The classic way to serve it is grated and mixed with olive oil and garlic and tossed with spaghetti. You can also mix it with mashed potatoes or slice it and serve it as an antipasto.
Bottarga comes in a solid block or grated in a jar and can be stored well wrapped in the fridge for two or three years.
"Where can I buy it?"
"You can't buy it in Toronto," D'Alfonso told me, explaining that she does not sell to the public, only restaurants, among them Grano, Zucca and Mistura. "And I think I'm the only one importing it. It's very expensive -- about $240 a kilo.
"But that's cheap if you're only using two or three ounces."
Genhome also imports bottarga made from tuna roe, which is about half the price of the mullet roe and not as good, D'Alfonso says.
Although the man at Pusateri's I talked to was enthusiastic. "We have it; a 14-ounce jar is $8.99," he said. "It's delicious."
In the end, D'Alfonso sent me small package of bottarga di muggine to try. Even though she's a wholesaler, she's eager to help introduce Canadians to fine Italian regional foods. Genhome also carries quality porcini mushrooms and truffle and olive oils.
"It's too bad, but people here want to see quantity, not quality," she said.
So, even though bottarga is très trendy in New York right now, it may be a while before you get to try some.
I suggest you ask for it. And when your favourite food merchants say they don't have it, tell them about Genhome. They're in the book. This is called starting a food trend.
A few days ago, I took my lump of Italian caviar home and prepared spaghetti alla bottarga for dinner, enough for two, with a simple arugula salad and a bottle of red wine.
It was delicious.