Caviar pasta

"Si fueris Romae, Romano vivito more; si fueris alibi, vivito sicut ibi" or translated from Latin "When in Rome, do as the Romans do; if you are somewhere else, do as they do there", the saying attributed to St. Ambrose, seems to apply in this particular matter. Caviar, or fish roe, is usually used as garnish or when eaten, it is with crackers or something similar, which is meant to clear the palate, like with fine wine, to make way for another tasty treat in form of the next load of caviar. In Italy, fish roe, caviar, is not eaten like in France; preferred way of eating caviar would be the caviar pasta.

In Italy, at least so it seems, everything can be eaten to pasta, starting with the meat sauce to the calamari, and apparently caviar as well. There are several recipes, which profess to be the right ones or the only real way to eat caviar, whereby the proclaimed difference is not that much apparent. Generally, the salmon caviar is an interesting and crunchy add on for the otherwise sufficient smoked salmon sauce, which is eaten with fettuccine or tagliarini. Regular vermicelli, spaghetti or spaghettini work well just the same, whatever you have at hand.

If you really want to do it the Italian way, then use rather mascarpone than crŠme fraiche, and using scallions is not really right, although very popular, chives should be used. Some disregard the mascarpone or sour cream - whereby heavy cream can be used as well - and dribble some olive oil instead of making any kind of white sauce. Many leave out the smoked salmon and go only with the caviar. Whoever suggested adding any kind of onion, including red onions or shallots, mixed up the French recipe with the Italian one. Some garlic is possible, but only if you are having fish, like the smoked salmon, in the main sauce. The taste of garlic interferes heavily with the delicate taste of caviar, be careful when picking your recipe.

Some Italian restaurants swear that less is more and urge people to use only the least of ingredients, which would be cream, parsley, smoked salmon and caviar. The suggestion was to try this sauce with linguini. The idea is to put the cream into a saucepan and add the smoked salmon to it, heat it and simply stir until the sauce thickens. The al dente cooked pasta serves as base, put the sauce over it and sprinkle the caviar on it. Chop up some parsley and garnish it with it, and voila, you have the perfect caviar pasta.

Linus Orakles
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