I went to Tsukiji Shijo, better known simply as Tsukiji, recently and
came home with a few treats. I've been there many times before, but
this was my first visit purely as a shopper, and it turns out to be a completely different experience
from visiting as a tourist. I discovered that the world's biggest fish
market is much more than a giant labyrinth of wholesalers offering
picturesque fresh seafood to middlemen, but a great place for the
retail shopper to find good prices on everything from sashimi to
prepared seafood to dried food like beans and kombu (kelp). I came away with a
bargain-priced jar of nametake (enoki mushroom preserves, a product
that deserves a post of its own), a bag of fresh mussels (what a thrill
it was to discover that they do exist in Japan) and a package of very
good and very cheap Hakata mentaiko (spicy cod roe from Hakata, Kyushu).
Mentaiko, also called karashi mentaiko, consists of whole cod (or, more likely these days, polluck) roe sacs preserved with salt, sake, kombu, and red chili peppers (a similar product called tarako is the roe preserved without the peppers). Other ingredients are often added, and cheaper mentaiko will contain plenty of MSG and food colouring. It is almost always used in one of two ways: as a topping for white rice, and an ingredient in mentaiko spaghetti.
Mentaiko spaghetti is probably my favourite yoshoku , and is definitely one of the cleverest (yoshoku means "western food" and is a category that includes any European style food that is tweaked for the Japanese palate; it is not meant to be authentically European). The combination of pasta, fish roe and butter is as unexpected as it is delicious, and mentaiko spaghetti is enormously popular both at restaurants and at home, loved by every age group (although non-spicy tarako spaghetti is favoured by kids).
It's also amazingly easy to make, but you wouldn't know that by the
amount of ready-made mentaiko sauce sold at the supermarket, or by the
huge variety of recipes out there. But the truth is it takes just minutes to make and there are only three essential ingredients: pasta, butter and mentaiko. I'm amazed by all the recipes, in both English and Japanese, that call for unnecessary additions: some of them, like cream and mayonnaise, are merely unnecessary, while others (garlic, onions, wine) are distracting or even clash with the mentaiko (wasabi, pepper). And I can't believe how many recipes call for additional salty ingredients like soy sauce or powdered soup stock, since it's already a salt-bomb of a dish.
I've never been a fan of Harumi Kurihara (billed in the English-language press, not very accurately, as "Japan's Martha Stewart"), but seeing her English recipe for mentaiko pasta makes me like her even less: she calls for both soy sauce and kombucha powder, along with regular salted butter. Kombucha, by the way, is an extremely salty kelp-based drink that in its commercial form is chock-full of MSG. Um, no thanks!
All you want to taste is butter, mentaiko and pasta, and this holy trio has enough salt, spice, creaminess and umami that you don't really need anything else. In fact, for a basic mentaiko spaghetti those three ingredients are all you need. The pasta is always spaghetti in Japan but you can use anything; I prefer spaghettini. Unsalted butter is preferred but salted butter won't make too much of a difference (if you're worried about salt just don't salt your pasta water). For the mentaiko, use the best mentaiko you can find: a good rule of thumb: the less lurid the colour, the higher the quality. Proportions are highly flexible, use more or less of anything and it will still turn out fine.
Here is the recipe, for two people:
Ultra Simple Mentaiko Spaghetti2 to 3 Tbsp butter
200 to 250 grams spaghetti or other long pasta
2 sacs of mentaiko
Remove butter from fridge, bring to room temperature in a large bowl or soften in the microwave. Cook the pasta. Open the mentaiko sacs with a knife and scrape the roe from the membrane with a spoon. Discard the membrane and add the roe to the bowl with the butter, mix well. When pasta is finished, drain very briefly and add it to the bowl. Toss to mix and serve.
That's it! Of course there are ways to dress it up a bit, and it's especially nice to add toppings. Below are ingredients for the slightly fancier mentaiko spaghetti I made with the mentaiko I bought at Tsukiji. From left: salt for the pasta water; olive oil to stretch out the
butter if you're worried about cost or cholesterol; mentaiko (this was
sold in chunks rather than whole sacs, I used about half of the amount
shown); spaghettini; shiso (perilla, also known as beefsteak leaf), and butter.
Shiso is a classic, but there are a number of toppings you can use.
From left: negi (long onion, you can also use green onions or chives); yakinori (the seaweed used to wrap onigiri and sushi rolls), which will need to be snipped into thin slices; ishinori,
another kind of nori in a crumbly form; and shiso. You can use just one
of the above, or a combination of shiso and nori or negi and nori
(don't use shiso and negi together though, it's a bit of a clash).
So here's my fancier but still very simple recipe, for two:
Ultimate Mentaiko Spaghetti
2 to 3 Tbsp unsalted butter (substitute regular butter)200 grams (7 ounces) spaghetti or other long pasta1 Tbsp salt, optional1 package (about 10 leaves) shiso or a 10 cm piece of negi2 sacs (about 120 grams/ 4 ounces) of mentaiko1 onigiri-sized sheet (or half a sushi-sized sheet) yakinori, or a pinch of ishinoriOlive oil to taste, optional1/2 cup reserved pasta water, optional
Melt butter gently in a large pan, turn off heat and let cool. Put pasta water on to boil. When it's ready add the salt and pasta, cook until al dente.
Wash shiso and shake to dry, cut off stems.
Keeping the leaves in a neat stack, roll them up tightly, cut the roll in half, and slice into thin strips. Set aside. If using negi, slice thinly and set aside.
Score the top of the roe sacs, without cutting all the way through.
Use a small spoon to scrape the roe from the sac membrane.
Remove as much roe as possible. Discard the membrane (it's edible but too tough to add to the sauce).
When butter is cool enough to touch, add the roe.
Mix the mentaiko into the butter, making sure there are no lumps. If you're using a lot of mentaiko and it's not mixing well, add olive oil or more butter (make sure it's not hot: hot butter will cook the mentaiko, which will toughen it and prevent it from sticking to the pasta).
Meanwhile, scoop out about half a cup of pasta water and let sit to cool.
If using yakinori, prepare it now (preparing it too early will cause it to wilt). With scissors, cut it in half widthwise and then lengthwise, stack the four long strips together and snip them widthwise into thin matchsticks. Set aside.
Drain pasta very briefly, then add it, still dripping, to pan. Toss to mix well. If the sauce seems too dry and isn't mixing well, add a little of the reserved pasta water or a splash of olive oil (or if you're a complete hedonist, more butter).
Divide the pasta between two plates, top with the shiso chiffonade or sliced negi and the nori. Serve hot.
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