Japanese cuisine · Dough, Pasta & Rice

Mentaiko Pasta

Spaghetti bound cold with seasoned pollock roe, butter and soy sauce, sprinkled with nori strips and shiso.

Ingredients · for 4 servings

• 400 g spaghetti
• 160 g mentaiko (seasoned pollock roe, or tarama as a substitute)
• 80 g butter
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp mirin
• 4 tbsp cream
• 2 sheets nori
• a few shiso leaves (optional)
• 1 lemon
• salt, pepper

Instructions

1. Slit the mentaiko sacs lengthwise and scrape out the roe with the back of a knife; discard the membranes and set the roe aside in a large bowl.
2. Add the butter in pieces to the roe, along with the soy sauce, mirin and cream, and mix everything with a fork into a smooth, pale pink paste.
3. Cut the nori sheets into fine strips with scissors and roll and cut the shiso leaves into thin ribbons.
4. Cook the spaghetti in plenty of salted water until al dente, reserve 100 ml of the cooking water and drain the noodles.
5. Add the hot noodles straight into the bowl with the roe paste and toss vigorously with 3–4 tbsp of the cooking water until a creamy sauce coats the noodles — do not heat further, or the roe turns grainy.
6. Divide onto plates, sprinkle with nori strips and shiso, grind over pepper and serve with lemon wedges.