La Lepanto ★ 4.2
A 110-seat sea-view dining room near Piazza Sulis, La Lepanto is where Alghero visitors go for aragosta, fregola with crustaceans and a raw fish plate.
Order: Lobster done the Lepanto way, with a raw seafood plate to open.
History
Catalan settlers arrived in Alghero after Pere IV of Aragon took the town in 1354, and the cold lobster salad came with them. The Sardinian version dropped almost everything, keeping raw tomato, sweet onion, olive oil, lemon and the aragosta itself, the spiny lobster of the western Sardinian coast rather than the clawed northern kind. It is priced by weight and usually chosen from a tank, and it is the plate that most clearly marks Alghero as a Catalan town rather than an Italian one. Restaurants on the bastions serve it as a main course for two, dressed at the table.
Common allergens: Crustaceans
Make it at home
Ingredients
- 1 live spiny lobster, about 800g
- 3 ripe tomatoes
- 1 large sweet red onion
- 1 lemon
- 80ml extra virgin olive oil
- Sea salt
- Coarse salt for the water
Method
- Bring a deep pan of heavily salted water to a rolling boil, at least 30g of coarse salt per litre.
- Lower the lobster in head first and boil for 12 minutes for an 800g lobster, 2 minutes more for each extra 200g.
- Lift it out and cool it on a rack, then chill for at least 30 minutes before cutting.
- Slice the onion into paper-thin rings, soak in iced water for 20 minutes, then drain and dry.
- Cut the tomatoes into small dice, salt them lightly and leave in a sieve for 10 minutes to drain.
- Split the lobster lengthways with a heavy knife, crack the legs and loosen the tail meat in the shell.
- Scatter the onion and tomato over the halves, dress with the oil and the juice of the lemon, and finish with sea salt.
Tip from the editors. Do not dress it more than five minutes before serving, or the salt pulls water out of the tomato and floods the shell.
Where to eat aragosta alla catalana
Aragosta alla catalana in Alghero
Rafel ★ 4.2
Two kilometres from the Alghero old town, Rafel pairs a covered cocktail veranda with a seafood kitchen and beach service with umbrellas after lunch.
Order: Spaghetti ai ricci when the sea urchin season is open, lobster alla catalana when it is not.
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