By Diep Tran

Aug. 5, 2024

With just six ingredients and a sauce that comes together in the time it takes to boil spaghetti, this pasta delivers surprising depth for relatively little effort. This recipe takes its inspiration from mentaiko pasta, a Japanese dish of spaghetti tossed in sake-marinated cod roe. In lieu of the cod roe, I use dried shrimp, something I always have in my pantry, and combine it with sake and butter before reducing it to a glossy sauce. Consider the color and size of your dried shrimp. They should be bright orange, and preferably have been stored in the refrigerated section of the market. For the sake, I personally like junmai sake for its clarity of flavor, but you can use any type except for cooking sake, which doesn’t quite have the complexity and depth of flavor that would benefit this dish.

Note: Look for medium or large dried shrimp, preferably from Kho Market and Louisiana Dried Shrimp Co., available online and at various Vietnamese delis in Little Saigon.

Read: Easy buttered pasta that will save dinner. All you need is 6 ingredients.

Diep Tran's Buttered Pasta With Dried Shrimp And Sake

2 ounce (⅔ cup) dried shrimp

1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cut by tablespoon

1 to 2 tablespoons coarse gochugaru or mild chile powder such as Aleppo

1 pound spaghetti

1 ½ cups sake

2 tablespoons lemon juice

Thinly sliced nori, for garnish (optional)

Bring 5 quarts of salted water to a boil.

In a blender or food processor, grind the dried shrimp until it resembles the texture of breadcrumbs, 30 seconds to 1 minute. Set aside.

Add 3 tablespoons of butter, the chile powder and two-thirds of the dried ground shrimp to a cold medium skillet. Over medium heat, melt the butter until it starts to foam, 1 to 2 minutes.

Cook the spaghetti in the salted water until al dente according to directions on the package.

While the pasta cooks, add the sake to the shrimp and butter mixture and raise the heat to high. Boil the mixture until the sake is almost completely evaporated and the sauce thickens enough to lightly coat the back of a spoon, about 10 minutes. Turn off the heat.

When the spaghetti is done cooking, use tongs or a wire mesh spider to transfer the pasta directly into the sake-butter sauce. Don’t worry if some of the cooking water is still clinging to the pasta. And don’t throw away the pasta water just yet.

Turn the sake-butter sauce heat back on to medium. Toss the pasta to thoroughly coat it in the sauce, about 2 minutes, then turn off the heat.

Add the lemon juice, the remaining 5 tablespoons of butter and 2 tablespoons of pasta water. Toss to gently melt the butter into the pasta. The pasta should be glossy, so if it looks a little dry, add another 1 to 2 tablespoons pasta water.

Divide the pasta among the serving bowls. Top each with some of the reserved ground shrimp and nori strips. Serve.