Artist's palate: Vidal Sassoon's spaghetti bottarga
- (opens in new tab)
- (opens in new tab)
- (opens in new tab)
- Sign up to our newsletter Newsletter

We received this month’s recipe from Ronnie Sassoon several months before her husband died at their Richard Neutra-designed house on Mulholland Drive in May. We present it now as our tribute to the man who revolutionised hairdressing with his geometric, easy-maintenance cutting and styling. It is a fittingly simple dish with a piquant dash of luxury. At its plainest, it is a dried chilli- and garlic-infused spaghetti, but topped with parsley and the Mediterranean’s cured fish roe, bottarga. The pressed, salted and dried roe of the grey mullet, which imparts a sweet but densely briny flavour, was a delicacy Ronnie and Vidal discovered on their first trip to Sardinia and remained Vidal’s favourite dish, a dish that brings happy memories of the Med to a simple meal. We’d like to say thank you, Mr Sassoon, for all you did.
Ingredients
1/2 cup good quality olive oil
1/2 tsp dried red chilli pepper
6 garlic cloves, slightly smashed
16oz spaghetti
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1oz mullet bottarga (dried Sardinian fish roe)
Method
Put the olive oil in a saucepan with the dried chilli and smashed garlic and place over a low to medium heat (enough to infuse the oil with the garlic without turning the garlic brown). Bring a large pan of water to the boil, then add the pasta and cook until al dente. Drain the pasta, toss with the olive oil mixture and dish into shallow bowls. Garnish with parsley and at least one of the garlic cloves. Grate a generous amount of bottarga over the top and serve.
INFORMATION
Photography: Zachary Zavislak. Interiors: Linda Kell
-
Giorgetti Spiga – The Place opens in Milan’s fashion quarter
The new Giorgetti Spiga – The Place transforms a 17th-century palazzo in Milan, showcasing the furniture company's full offering over four floors
By Maria Cristina Didero • Published
-
This futuristic ski house is born of its sloped locale
A ski house with a contemporary twist, this is House at 9,000ft by MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple in the Intermountain Region of Western USA
By Ellie Stathaki • Published
-
‘Crown to Couture’: Kensington Palace unveils its largest ever exhibition
‘Crown to Couture’ at Kensington Palace, London, promises a dazzling delve into royal-court and red-carpet jewellery and dressing (5 April – 29 October 2023). Its curators tell us more
By Hannah Silver • Published
-
Lynda Benglis’ seductive hall of mirrors and juicy neon eggs in London
American artist Lynda Benglis subverts expectations with new bronze sculptures and otherworldly coloured eggs in a new solo show at Thomas Dane Gallery, London
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith • Published
-
London show celebrates the male physique in photography, from muscle hunks to scruffy punks
‘A Hard Man is Good to Find!’ – newly open at London’s Photographers’ Gallery – is a delectable survey of queer photographs of the male body created in London between the 1930s and early 1990s
By Benoit Loiseau • Published
-
The best London art exhibitions: a guide for March 2023
Your guide to the best London art exhibitions, and those around the UK in March 2023, as chosen by the Wallpaper* arts desk
By Harriet Lloyd Smith • Published
-
Eric van Hove brings Morocco to Mayfair in a sculpture exhibition at Connolly
At Connolly in London’s Mayfair, Eric van Hove’s ‘Fenduq’ sees British poise collide with the raw grace of Moroccan creativity
By Flora Vesterberg • Published
-
Inside Shoreditch Arts Club: east London’s new hub for cultural and culinary delights
Shoreditch Arts Club, opening on 7 March, is a new private members' club set within the landmark Tea Building that aims to evoke ‘the curiosity of an avid art collector’s home’
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith • Published
-
Mike Nelson at Hayward Gallery: a dystopian thriller that’s impossible to forget
We review Mike Nelson’s epic survey show ‘Extinction Beckons’ at Hayward Gallery, London, a monumental exhibition filled with dark humour, unsettling encounters, and modernist dreams lost to capitalism
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith • Published
-
Olgaç Bozalp’s journey through forced migration, longing and childhood nostalgia
Photographer Olgaç Bozalp’s powerful series ‘Home, Leaving One For Another’ is now on view at 10 14 Gallery, London
By Saskia Koopman • Published
-
Seven exhibitions to welcome London’s Centre for British Photography
Opening on 25 January 2023, the new Centre for British Photography in London is set to build on the Hyman Collection and will be holding seven shows, on until 30 April
By Martha Elliott • Published