Wafu Pasta Japanese Italian Fusion

Ingredients

• 400 g spaghettini or capellini, thin-gauge pasta only
• For the soy-butter sauce
• 60 g unsalted butter, cold, cut into pieces
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tbsp sake
• 1 tbsp mirin
• For the mentaiko version
• 120 g mentaiko (spicy pollock roe) or tarako (salted cod roe), sac slit and roe scraped free
• 60 ml single cream, to soften roe intensity and aid coating
• For the mushroom version
• 150 g shimeji mushrooms, base trimmed, clusters separated
• 100 g maitake mushrooms, torn into pieces
• 80 g enoki mushrooms, base trimmed
• To finish
• 1 sheet toasted nori, finely shredded
• 8 leaves perilla (shiso), finely shredded
• 1 tsp yuzu zest, finely grated; or lemon zest if unavailable
• 1 tsp toasted sesame seeds
• 1 tbsp reserved pasta water, retained just before draining

Method

1. 1
   Bring a large pot of salted water to a full rolling boil. Cook the spaghettini or capellini according to packet time, erring toward al dente. One minute before draining, draw off at least 60 ml of pasta water and reserve. Drain the pasta. The pasta is ready when it offers slight resistance at the centre when bitten.
2. 2
   For the mushroom version: place a wide pan over high heat until very hot. Add half the butter and, when foaming subsides, add the shimeji and maitake. Do not stir for 90 seconds — allow direct contact with the pan. Add the enoki, toss once, then deglaze with the sake. When the sake has reduced by half and the mushrooms are golden at their edges and yielding to a spatula, remove the pan from the heat.
3. 3
   Add the soy sauce and mirin to the pan off the heat and swirl to combine with the remaining butter. Add one tablespoon of the reserved pasta water. This is where the dish lives or dies: the butter and soy must emulsify into a single glossy coating rather than separate into an oily puddle — the pasta water is the bridge. The sauce is correct when it coats a lifted strand in a thin, even, shining film.
4. 4
   For the mentaiko or tarako version: in a bowl (not over heat), combine the scraped roe with the cream and the soy sauce. Mix gently. Remove the drained pasta from heat entirely and toss directly into the bowl with the roe mixture and the remaining butter pieces. Add the reserved pasta water in small additions. The roe must never contact a hot pan surface — it is ready when it coats the pasta in a pale, blush-toned, creamy sauce with no visible graining or dry clusters.
5. 5
   Divide the pasta into Japanese bowls. Finish immediately with the shredded nori, shredded perilla, yuzu zest and sesame seeds. These garnishes are not decoration: the nori and perilla complete the aroma and flavour of the dish. Serve at once — wafu pasta does not hold.