What’s up people? Or spam bots? Or whomever/ whatever has had the unique pleasure of perusing/ scanning these words that I’ve just typed. Well, I had the unique pleasure of hanging out with my neighbor, Chi. She happens to be really funny and a really good cook. I met her through this social media app for old people (yeah, I’m trying to lean in to being old) called NextDoor. For the uninitiated (young people with lives), it’s this site that focuses on connecting people based on where they live, specifically their neighborhoods. So, people post news, alerts, items for sale or to give away or queries about house painters or electricians. A couple months back, in an effort to kick up a little more action on this here blog, meet some neighbors and get inspired by new recipes and home cooks, I put up a post asking neighbors if they would be so kind as to let me film them cooking something. The reaction was overwhelming. That is, overwhelmingly “meh”. But fortunately for you, my loyal fans / bots, for me and (I’m sure Chi would agree) for her, Chi was one neighbor who responded. We struck up a conversation et voila: last week I had the opportunity to hang out at her house as she prepared a really simple and delicious dish called mentaiko pasta that she had first tasted when she lived in NYC and ate it at place called Basta Pasta.
Where do I start with this dish? Did I already mention how simple and delicious it is? Oh yeah, that was just the paragraph before. I told you I was getting old. Okay, long story short, this is a Japanese take on pasta that uses seasoned pollock roe (fish eggs) as the basis of the sauce instead of a tomato base. If you like caviar of any sort, if briny, oceany salty flavors are your jam (“jam” not in the fruit preserve sense, but in the “one of my favorite things” sense) then. You. Will. Love. This. I guarantee it. If you don’t like those flavors, well then don’t bother. In the words of Chi “It’s a waste of good roe.” So, more for us. It’s one of those dishes that grows on you not only in the time you’re eating it – each bite is better than the last – but long after you’ve put your fork down and licked the last remnants from your plate. You’ll sit there, perhaps typing up a blog post that three people will read and your mouth will instantly begin to water as you conjure up the flavor. Have I whet your appetite enough? Well, here’s the recipe as written up by Chi.
mentaiko spaghetti
- 2 TBS butter (melted)
- 2 TBS olive oil
- 4 TBS Mentaiko (spicy pollock roe)
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- Spaghetti noodles
- roasted nori (seawead) – cut into fine slivers
Set spaghetti to boil.
While the spaghetti is cooking, mix melted butter with olive oil, set aside.Scrape pollak roe from the egg sacks, add to oil and butter mix.Add lemon juice to taste and mix thoroughly.Drain pasta, and add mentaiko paste wile warm.Plate sauced noodles, and sprinkle with cut nori. Serve to Clarence.
And here’s where Chi shows you how it’s done.
