Since a few of you asked, here’s the recipe of our version:
Ingredients:
- Mentaiko (defrosted and cleaned from the membrane)
- Sweet paprika
- Neutral oil (we use grapeseed, but anything mild works)
- Spaghetti No. 7 or spaghettoni
- Butter
- Cooking cream
- Parmigiano Reggiano
- Lemon juice & zest
- Kizami nori
- Chives
How to make it:
- Clean the mentaiko from the connective tissue, add a splash of oil and a good amount of sweet paprika. Mix well and set aside.
- Cook pasta just under al dente. At the same time, heat cream and butter in a pan.
- Once pasta’s ready, toss it into the cream/butter mix with a bit of starchy water to emulsify. Add handful of Parmigiano and toss again until melted and silky.
- In a mixing bowl, add 40–50g of the mentaiko mixture per 80g pasta. Add a splash of lemon juice for brightness. Add the pasta and cream mix into the bowl and toss well until it all comes together.
- Garnish with chives, kizami nori, lemon zest, and maybe a tiny extra grating of Parmigiano if you are that kind of person
by xXxKatletkaxXx
2 Comments
This looks amazing.
I’ve made this almost exactly the same exact way save for one and half things. When you add the pasta to the mentaiko bowl add in a tablespoon or two of really starchy pasta water and then, using your cooking tweezer, whip it all together vigorously. Like whip the shit outta it and then fold in the mentaiko. This whips air into the sauce and emulsifies everything and makes what’s typically a fairly heavy sauce, that can be cloying to the palate, very light and velvety.
I also add the parmesano to the pan right before throwing everything into the mixing bowl with the mentaiko bc I found adding it too early can make the sauce feel grainy on the palate if heated too much. Sometimes I add parmesano rind to the pasta water to punch it up a bit.
Sometimes I like to garnish it with shaved bottarga or karasumi for the contrast in texture and flavor.
All in all this was phenomenally made and I saved your post bc now you have me craving this. Great job!
The noises…. I would make…. With no breath because…. I would eat it so quickly….. oh my god that was good dude too good I miss those pans aswell if any one has a link to we’re I can get some I do miss working izakaya restaurants aalot