Fishes and mollusks in the traditional cuisine of Alghero

The fishful sea of Alghero (Nurra) offers a great variety of fish and mollusks, which constitute the base of many dishes of the Catalan gastronomy. We will illustrate some of the most important recipes but, please bear in mind that variations may occur according to the area, rigid rules do not exist. Other dishes may be typical even if only in a sole town.

Cassòla: typical dish of the Alghero gastronomy tradition. It is a rich fish soup, which used to be the meal of fishermen and their family. In a pan, fry in olive oil, garlic, chopped onion and parsley, sun-dried tomatoes, after about then minutes add the gutted and scaled fishes: position them in order to their cooking time ( normally eel, red/rose fish, grey mullet, black-tail, mullet, cuttlefish, octopus, mackerel, red mullet, gurnard, crabs, magnosa). Subsequently, add a couple of cookwares of water, a little bit of white wine, according to the quantity. Serve hot with typical anchovies tarts, traditionally eaten by sailors and fishermen that could not preserve bread for long time.

Spaghetti ai ricci: savory version of spaghetti in tomato sauce, use sea-urchin fresh pulp roasted with olive oil and basil. The spaghetti have to be drained “al dente” , then pan-fry them with the sea-urchin and basil sauce.

Ricci di mare (sea-urchins) : during fishing authorized time, the sea-urchins ( called "boga marì"in Algherese dialect) are ready to eat, you just need a knife and a teaspoon. The pulp varies in color from orange to purple red, tastes sweet and can be used as a sauce, for example to flavor spaghetti (look at Spaghetti ai ricci). Serve with white dry wine.

Aragosta alla catalana (Spiny-lobster ): considered one of the best in the world, the lobster fished in the Alghero's sea has always been very requested by the international market. Boil the lobster in salted water and cut it by half and flavor it with olive oil and lemon. Some like it with fresh onions chopped in little slices. Similar recipe can be used for crabs and scampi.

Polpo all’agliara (octopus with garlic): boil the octopus and chopped it into pieces, leave it for 12-18 hours immersed in a sauce of sun dried tomatoes ( add fresh tomatoes to mitigate the hot spicy), red hot chili pepper, olive oil, garlic and vinegar. It is best to serve cold. The wording
“agliara” renamed in Italian “agliata” (with garlic).

Gattuccio di mare all’agliara (black-mouthed with garlic): typical dish of Alghero cuisine, similar to the “polpo all’agliara” recipe, with the difference that the black-mouthed can be fried before being flavored with the sun-dried tomatoes sauce (add fresh tomatoes to mitigate the hot spicy),red hot chilli pepper, olive oil, garlic and vinegar. Serve it cold.

Frittelle di melanzane ( Fried aubergines): this is a poor dish, rarely found at restaurants, perhaps at a typical trattoria in the city center. The violet aubergines boiled, are chopped and kneaded with eggs, flour and sugar. Some flavor it with few drops of lemon juice. Use a spoon to deep into boiling olive oil small portions of the kneaded aubergines. After fried, dry them and add a little bit of sugar. These fritelle are very good either served warm or cold.