Far beyond sushi and sashimi, the Japanese have expansive ways with fish that I barely understand, but the fact that bonito (dried tuna flakes) and dashi (kelp and bonito broth) are staples says a lot about that country’s receptiveness to flavors born in the ocean.  

(I’ve recently discovered a homey Japanese recipe which I make almost once a week - saute one sliced white onion in vegetable or olive oil to soften.  Add a whole head of chopped Napa Cabbage. Cook to wilted, about 10 minutes, and add one can good quality canned tuna packed in oil, with its oil. Add soy sauce to taste, and cook for another ten minutes until all is incorporated.  Serve over steaming rice. Don’t laugh. This is delicious; the canned tuna ingredient rises to something luscious and unrecognizable.)

When my husband came home recently with two shining lobes of shad roe, a springtime delicacy that people love cooked with bacon or a lemon caper sauce, I thought, hmmmm.  I don’t want that. I know it’s a special springtime event, but sometimes shad roe is just too eggy and monotonous for me, even when heightened by lemon and capers.

I flipped through all the shad roe usuals - lots of lemon, over toast, with sauteed shallots, more parsley - and I thought, what would the Japanese do?  

With a little help from Serious Eats, I found a recipe for a Japanese Spaghetti served with Mentaiko, which is cured cod (or pollock) roe.  I adapted this recipe and used the shad roe, to wonderful, briny, haunting results. The warm butter, the roe and soy sauce create a sublime pasta sauce.  It has that mysterious umami-like quality that squid ink brings to pasta, but it’s unlike the pasta seafood dishes we recognize as obvious with clams, mussels or chunks of tuna steak.  This pasta ghosts the sea.  Don’t leave off the nori garnish, which adds a tiny bit of salt, texture, and ocean.   

Japanese-inspired Spaghetti with Shad Roe

serves 4 generously

Ingredients:

Salt for the pasta water

1 pound box good quality spaghetti

3 - 4 lobes of shad roe, about 6 ounces a piece, depending on how rich you want this

1 ½ sticks unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled

2-4 tablespoons good quality soy sauce, or Bragg’s Liquid Aminos, or to taste

½ sheet Nori, cut into ¼” strips for garnish

Instructions:

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil for the pasta.  Add the pasta and cook according to directions on the package.  

With a small, sharp paring knife, tenderly slice open each lobe of roe.  Scrape the eggs into a medium-sized glass bowl. (Set aside 4 teaspoons for garnish.)  Pour the warm butter over the roe and stir together. Add the soy sauce and stir to combine.  

Drain the pasta, reserving about a ½ cup of water (I simply keep the pasta a little wet.  That works as well as adding the reserved water after. You can try both.) Put the drained pasta back into the stock pot, and pour in the roe/butter mixture.  Start tossing. You want the roe to slightly cook in the heat of the pasta, so you might want to return the heat to very gentle. Keep tossing, even for almost 5 minutes.  Add the water if it looks too dry. You want the sauce to become smooth and integrated completely with the pasta, and the small beads of roe to turn pale white.

Serve in warmed bowls. Garnish with the reserved roe and nori slices. Serve immediately.