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08/16/2007: "Tarako Spaghetti"
I have always wanted to try tarako spaghetti, I love the combination of spaghetti and fish eggs so I decided to give it a try. I will be showing you two types of recipes I tried. The first is the real thing, Tarako Spaghetti. The second, was a mistake I made...that became a hit with the office...which pushed me to post it anyway. So here we go!
Tarako Spaghetti
2 fish roe (must be Japanese salted cod roe called tarako or karashi mentaiko)
6 ounces spaghetti noodles (or finer)
2 tablespoons butter
¼ cup heavy cream (or less)
¼ cup chicken stock
¼ sheet nori, cut into tiny tiny strips
Note:
a) Tarako comes in sausage-looking pieces
b) You can choose either the spicy kind (karashi mentaiko) or just plain tarako
c) You can find tarako at the Japanese grocery store, often it is in the freezer.
Cut open the casing on each piece of tarako and gently scrape or squeeze out the roe.
Discard the casings.
Start your water to boil for the spaghetti.
Melt butter in a skillet over medium heat. Reduce heat to low and add roe, stirring until the color of the roe changes to a pale orange.
Stir in the chicken stock and about half the heavy cream until well blended and heated through. As necessary, you can add the rest of the heavy cream.
Turn off the heat and keep the sauce just warm.
Cook the pasta to al dente.
Drain pasta and toss with sauce (sprinkle on the nori over the top just before taking the plates to the table) to serve.
Leftover Note: I usually prepare my lunches the night before, so when I have to heat it up at work the next day, the pasta and sauce is usually dried out. I add a bit of cream or even kewpie mayonnaise (Japanese mayonnaise) to loosen up the pasta after its heated through.
Now here comes the pictures with the mistake! The second time I decided to try this recipe, I was in the store and started looking over Tobikko. I figured it was fish eggs as well so I purchased it (especially since it was cheaper for a bigger quantity!) Anyway, I made the recipe with all the same ingredients but in the end, I needed to add salt and pepper to taste. I realized my mistake was the tobikko, Tarako spaghetti works because of the saltiness of the fish roe and it's combination with a cream sauce. So I brought this dish to work and offered them up to my coworkers with very low hopes, but they ended up loving it! I was very pleased to know a mistake could bring someone joy.
So here are the pictures. 
