Julienned potatoes with spicy cod roe ジャガイモの明太子和え

Julienned potatoes with spicy cod roe ジャガイモの明太子和え (Mark’s book p24)

We have to agree with Mark that this dish is excellent and definitely joined our list of favorites. I have to admit first that I deviated a little from the original recipe but it tasted very very good. I should have made the dish, at least once, according to the original recipe before modifying it. First, we did not have the spicy cod roe or “karashi-mentaiko” 辛子明太子 and we had all other kinds of potatoes except Russet. Substituting for the spicy cod roe, after removing the roe from it’s sac, I added Tabasco and a bit of sake to make regular “tarako” たらこ cod roe spicy and the right consistency. For my wife, the spicy cod roe is too spicy and this way, I can control the spiciness. Instead of Russet, I used a large red potato which has less starch than Russet. For the rest, I followed the recipe. To reiterate, thinly julienne the potato and soak it in water to remove excess starch, drain and pat dry. Saute in small amount of oil in a hot frying pan for 2 minutes or so without browning until softened but still bit crunchy. Serve on a plate, top it with a pat of butter and the spiced-up cod roe. Add freshly cracked black pepper. Mix and enjoy.

This is somewhat reminiscent of a classic Japanese pasta dish, “Tarako spaghetti” たらこスパゲッティ. We often make a variation of this spaghetti dish. In the current dish, potatoes are used instead of noodles. The potato strips are al dente but have a different texture as compared with noodles. The mixture of tarako, spiciness from, in my case, tabasco and cracked black pepper, and butter is wonderful. As in tarako spaghetti, it is natural to think adding julienned nori and perilla to this.