Cagliari, · Sardinia Techniques

Bottarga di muggine (grey mullet roe, salt-pressed and air-dried) is one of Italy's most exceptional preserved products and Sardinia's most distinctive export. The roe sac of the grey mullet is removed intact, hand-massaged with sea salt over 3–4 weeks, then pressed between wooden boards for shape and dried for 90–120 days until amber-coloured and firm. Grated over pasta (spaghetti, linguine) with raw olive oil and a squeeze of lemon — never cooked. The heat destroys its extraordinary saline-oceanic character.

Fregola (also fregola sarda or su succu) are toasted semolina pellets — Sardinia's answer to North African couscous, but toasted in an oven after forming, giving them a nutty, roasted depth that couscous lacks. Matched with arselle (small telline-style clams) and vongole in a light tomato-white wine sauce, the fregola absorbs the shellfish liquid and broth, becoming extraordinarily flavoured. It is cooked risotto-style — the liquid is added gradually and the fregola swells and absorbs.