Pasta with tuna tartare, smoked butter and onsen tamago (slow cooked egg)

This is a recipe I have been experimenting with for quite a while now and it combines Italian and Japanese cooking techniques in a style that I call “Giappoliano”. Onsen Tamago is a slow cooked egg that is traditional to Japan and it was originally cooked in thermal hot springs waters. In order to recreate this at home you will need sous vide cooking tools or something that will allow you to cook at controlled and precise temperature (I use a Thermomix). You will need to cook the egg in its shell at 63 degrees celsius for 50 minutes. Slow cooked eggs have a very unique consistency, the yolk and the white have a very similar texture, and they are somehow creamier than poached eggs. If you want to make the smoked butter at home you will also need a smoking gun, but this pasta will work quite well also with normal butter. In this recipe you cook the pasta “risotto” style and then you plate it with a very simple tuna tartare and add the onsen egg on top. Each person breaks the egg on their plate and stirs it into the pasta. The effect is very similar to a carbonara (but don’t tell anyone from Rome or they might get upset). 

Serves 2 

Ingredients: 

2 medium eggs 
80 gr (2.8 oz) sashimi grade tuna 
250 gr (8.8 oz) egg pasta like spaghetti alla chitarra (normal spaghetti or linguine will work too) 
30 gr (6 tsp) smoked butter 
Salt and pepper to taste 
Extra virgin olive oil to taste 

For the onsen tamago: 
Insert two eggs in a water bath at exactly 63 C and cook them for 50 minutes. 
Cool the eggs down in an ice water bath (to stop further cooking). 
Gently crack the eggs individually in small bowls and set aside. 

For the smoked butter: 
Cut the fridge cold butter in small cubes and place them in a bowl. 
Cover with cling film. Start the smoking gun and allow the smoke to enter into the bowl. 
Seal immediately with the cling film and let it rest for about 3 minutes. 
Remove the cling film and allow the smoke to escape. 
Set aside. 

For the Tuna tartare
Cut the fresh tuna in small cubes. 
Dress it with your best extra virgin olive oil, sea salt and pepper. 
Set aside. 

For the pasta:
Cook the pasta in salty boiling water. 
At about half the cooking time indicated on the package, transfer the pasta to a wide pan (or a wok) using tongs. Add 3 or 4 ladles of the pasta cooking water and continue cooking the pasta this way on a medium-high heat, while stirring it with tongs. As soon as the liquid disappears, add more pasta cooking water, and keep stirring to release more starch. Add small amounts of liquid at a time (like for a risotto), especially as you get closer to the pasta being cooked. 
When the pasta is cooked, you should have a tiny bit of starchy creamy liquid in the pan, but it shouldn’t be watery. 
Turn off the stove and add the butter into the pan, while stirring rapidly, until the butter has dissolved. Plate the pasta, add the tartare on top and finish with the onsen egg. 

Recommended listening: Ibrahim Maalouf - Wind (Sensuality)

This album by French-Lebanese trumpet player Ibrahim Maalouf has a cool gentle swing and combines jazz with Arabic music in an effortless and elegant unique way.