From Chef's Table · 2015- · Reconstructed
Shiizakana: Abalone, Truffle & Pickled Cod Roe Pasta
Serve when
Serve when Niki Nakayama explains that her decadent abalone-and-truffle pasta course breaks every rule of the traditional kaiseki she trained in.
In the series
Volume 1
- S1E4 · ~00:31:30 Niki Nakayama plates her shiizakana course — spaghetti tossed with abalone, black truffle, and mentaiko — explaining that it doesn't belong in a classic kaiseki meal but stays on n/naka's menu regardless
In the series
Nakayama says outright that this dish would never appear in a traditional kaiseki meal — it's rich, buttery, and Western-leaning in a way the form usually forbids. She keeps it on the menu anyway, and the episode treats it as the clearest sign of how she's rebuilt kaiseki around her own instincts rather than its rulebook.
Ingredients
Method
- Cook the spaghetti in well-salted water until just al dente, reserving a little pasta water.
- Sear the abalone slices very briefly in butter over high heat — just seconds per side, since abalone toughens fast.
- In the same pan, add the dashi and soy sauce and bring to a simmer, then toss in the drained pasta with a splash of pasta water to loosen the sauce.
- Off the heat, fold in the mentaiko so it turns creamy without fully cooking, then fold in the seared abalone.
- Plate the pasta, drizzle with truffle oil, shave fresh black truffle over the top, and finish with scallions.
Substitutions
- Fresh abalone: Frozen, pre-cooked abalone (available at Japanese and Korean markets) is far more accessible than fresh, and works fine here since it's barely cooked anyway.
- Fresh black truffle: Good truffle oil and a jar of preserved truffle carpaccio get most of the aroma across without the expense of a fresh truffle for a single home meal.