Mentaiko Pasta
for the wafu pasta skeptics
I’ve always been a bit of a pasta purist thanks to my father. The kind of person who’d scoff at cream in carbonara and eye roll over the fact that this is simply how it isn’t done when a bit of pasta water, eggs, and pecorino does the job. I still don’t think carbonara needs cream, but since moving to Tokyo, I have ventured into a new and completely bewildering (yet intriguing?) world of Japanese-style pasta, also known as wafu pasta. There are a lot of versions of Japanified pasta out there, but one of the most common is a creamy mentaiko (spicy cod roe) pasta—so popular that it comes as a Kewpie pasta sauce packet at the supermarket. I’ve made this recipe then, for anyone, like me, who is still skeptical of wafu pasta. I’d say that this is absolutely better than the packet and just as easy, so good in fact, that it might finally convince you that Japanese-Italian fusion really does work.
Ingredients
For two
200g of spaghettini or spaghetti
2 tbsp of Cabi Umami Dashi Soy
70g of mentaiko
1 tbsp of sake
2 tbsp of Cabi Classic Mayo
1 tbsp of butter
Olive oil
Shiso and nori strips for garnish
Instructions
1. Scrape the mentaiko from the sacs and set aside. Scoop out about 1 heaping tablespoon and keep it separate for plating.
2. Thinly slice the shiso into strips and set aside.
3. In a small saucepan, bring 1 tbsp sake and 2 tbsp Cabi Umami Dashi Soy to a quick boil to cook off the alcohol. Remove from heat and let cool.
4. Cook 200g spaghettini in salted water according to the package instructions.
5. Meanwhile, whisk the cooled sake-soy mixture with 2 tbsp Cabi Classic Mayo in a large bowl. Add the mentaiko and mix gently with a spatula.
6. Once the pasta is cooked, drain and reserve about 1 cup of the pasta water.
7. Add the hot pasta to the mentaiko mixture along with 1 tbsp butter. Pour in about ½ cup of the pasta water and toss vigorously with tongs to emulsify the sauce. Add more pasta water as needed if it looks dry.
8. Serve immediately, drizzled with some olive oil and topped with shiso, thin strips of nori, and a small mound of the reserved mentaiko.
Talk soon,
Alexa