INGREDIENTS

• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 pound spaghetti rigati (recommended: Barilla)*
• ½ cup clam juice
• ⅓ cup tobiko (flying fish roe) or masago**
• ⅓ cup chiffonade of shiso (or mint and basil)***

PROCEDURE

Dice the butter, and put it back in the fridge.

Cook the spaghetti in very well salted boiling water until al dente.  Reserve ½ cup of the pasta cooking water before draining.

Add the clam juice and reserved pasta water to the empty pasta pot over high heat.  Once the mixture comes to a boil, whisk in the butter, 1 cube at a time, until they are all dissolved into the sauce.  Take the pot off the heat, and toss the pasta with the sauce.  Taste for seasoning, and add salt if you want it.

You can either divvy the pasta up between 4 bowls, and divide the tobiko and herbs on top of the bowls of pasta; or you can toss the tobiko and herbs with the pasta in the pot.  Either way, serve right away!

NOTES

*I like the spaghetti rigati because each strand holds the sauce and tobiko to it.  But if you can’t find it, just use regular spaghetti, like Basta Pasta does.

**This is those tiny orange fish eggs on the outside of sushi.  I buy it for $1.89 for ⅓ cup at a local Asian market, in the freezer section.  You can also try your local sushi restaurant, or the sushi counter at your supermarket.

***Shiso is an Asian herb that I can’t find.  So I use a mixture of 10 basil leaves and 20 mint leaves.