Mentaiko: A mea culpa

This is what dinner looks like tonight. I know, and yes, I'm sorry. But trust me: it gets much better.

This is mentaiko, pollack roe that is pickled, salted and spiced up with hot pepper. Please stay with me. Take small steps. It will all turn out all right.

Mentaiko has become my new favorite taste. It's a little salty, slightly spicy and adds just a hint of the ocean to whatever you serve it with. It's almost like a special salt or a fresh condiment that shows up inside onigiri or in rice tendon or, as I discovered in Okinawa earlier this year, on spaghetti.

Mentaiko originally came from Korea, which in my mind explains the spicy pickling. It became more popular in Japan after World War II, and more recent generations have adapted the roe into a carbonara of sorts. Usually, the pasta is laced with mentaiko, a little soy sauce with dashi (fish stock), cream, butter, lemon juice and ribbons of shizo, an anise-flavored leaf that often accompanies tuna sushi. The pasta is topped with sliced nori and served. Like carbonara, it takes only as long to make as it does to cook the pasta. Once the noodles go in, you uncase the roe from its sack (don't turn back now -- just think of it as a little sausage), heat it in a frying pan with the other ingredients, and then mix with the warm pasta.

I tried to create a lighter version, and I think I managed it reasonably well for my first try. I used ponzu, citrus-flavored soy sauce, with a little bottled udon sauce, which has a lighter soy taste with dashi already mixed in. I threw in half a leek, sliced, along with four little Japanese "hot" peppers, which don't taste hot at all but have a mild, grassy taste much more pleasant than a bell pepper. I sauted the onion and pepper in a little olive oil, then added the roe and sauces. Once the little eggs turned light pink (we're almost done, I promise), I put the mixture in a bowl along with the sliced shizo. On went the hot pasta. I tossed, served, and topped with snips of nori. And then I had this:
















See, mentaiko's not so bad. In fact, it's really, really good.

Two mentaiko, fresh*
2 to 3 tablespoons olive oil, or canola oil
1/3 cup sliced leek
3 to 4 tablespoons sliced mild peppers
4 to 5 tablespoons ponzu, or more if you prefer
2 to 3 tablespoons udon sauce
3 shizo leaves, sliced into ribbons (like you would basil)
drizzle sesame oil
Strips of nori
Enough pasta** for two people

Bring salted water to boil for pasta; dump in pasta and cook. Heat skillet with olive oil. Add onions and peppers, saute for two to three minutes. Add mentaiko. The little eggs will pop a little in the oil, so stand back. Mix quickly, then add sauces. Once combined, turn off heat and remove to a mixing bowl. Top with shizo.

When pasta is done, drain and add to mixture. Toss, then serve in individual bowls. Top with sliced nori.

*If you're lucky enough to find them at your Asian market, cook them the same day you buy them. Otherwise, ask for packaged, dried mentaiko. I haven't cooked with this, but I believe it comes in a pre-cooked mix where you just add water. Not the best substitution, I know, but it might be worth a try.

**Most Japanese recipes call for spaghetti, but I used a shorter pasta with ridges. I'm not such a fan of twirling pasta round the fork.