Mentaiko Cream Pasta
Quick answer
- Total time
- 25 min
- Level
- Easy
- Servings
- 2 servings
- Ingredients
- 9
About this dish
Japanese-style cream pasta uses mentaiko, salted pollock roe, in two ways: two thirds melts into the butter and cream sauce, and the rest goes on top raw with crumbled roasted seaweed.
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A teaspoon of lemon juice at the end lightens the cream. The roe is stirred in with the burner off or barely on. Over strong heat it turns fishy.
Ingredients
Instructions
- 1
Split the 80 g mentaiko sacs and scrape out only the roe.
Set aside one-third for topping, keep the rest for the sauce, finely mince the garlic, and have the Parmesan ready to add later.
- 2
Cook 180 g spaghetti in boiling salted water until 1 minute short of the package time.
Reserve 120 ml of starchy pasta water, then drain the pasta without rinsing so the sauce clings well.
- 3
Melt 15 g butter in a pan over low heat, then cook the garlic for 1 to 2 minutes until sweet and fragrant.
Keep it pale rather than browned, since dark garlic can make the cream taste bitter.
- 4
Pour in 160 ml heavy cream and 60 ml milk, then warm over medium-low heat only until steam rises.
When small bubbles appear around the edge, lower the heat immediately to prevent the dairy from separating.
- 5
Add the spaghetti, then turn the heat very low or briefly off.
Add two-thirds of the roe and toss quickly for 1 minute, adding pasta water one spoonful at a time until the sauce looks glossy.
- 6
Turn off the heat and stir in 20 g Parmesan and 1 tsp lemon juice, then check the thickness and saltiness.
Plate the pasta, top with the remaining roe and roasted seaweed flakes, and mix lightly before eating.
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