' SPAGHETTINI con VODKA e CAVIALE .'

Spaghetto of Vodka & Caviar with Sweet Onion & Parmesan cream sauce , Black Lumpfish Caviar , and Green shallots.

                             This my take or should I say my re-construction of Rome's little light and simple, yet elegant after theatre midnight pasta 'spaghettini con vodka e caviale' which translates as 'spaghettini with vodka and caviar'. The concept of the traditional dish came from a book I own 'Fish & shellfish' by Linda Doeser and is a comprehensive seafood bible. I've made the traditional meal a few times before and the combination is exquisite, so with some left over lumpfish caviar floating around the fridge (the true inspiration for this dish) I wanted to try a modern cuisine interpretation of this plate.Traditionally the meal is made by tossing cooked spaghettini through a sauce of saute shallots, caviar, vodka and cream before being plated and topped with more caviar and shaved parmesan cheese. My version consists of vodka and caviar molecular agar spaghetti and sweet onion and parmesan cream sauce to mimic the entire flavours of the traditional dish with a different construction and presentation.          
                             To make my dish I started by preparing the agar spaghetti, using the method described for molecular spaghetti in previous post 'Heirloom tomatoes part 2'. In brief I blended vodka and caviar together to for smooth liquid to which I added agar agar at 1.6% and placed in a saucepan. This was brought to the simmer whisking to dissolve the agar and removed from the heat, skimmed of any froth or solid matter. The vodka caviar liquid was then pumped into a coiled half meter length of 5 mm clear plastic tubing with a 3 mm nozzle syringe and once filled placed into an ice water bath to set. The spaghetto once set (after 3-5 minutes) was extruded out of the tubing by blowing air up one end of the tube with the same size syringe, expelling the spaghetto in one piece to be set aside for later. The sauce was the next preparation and this was made by sweating some finely chopped shallots (white end) in some butter before removing and blitzing to a puree and returning to the saucepan adding some cream and this was brought to a simmer and reduced. Once the sauce had reduced I seasoned with salt and pepper, added some grated parmesan cheese stirring to melt the cheese through the sauce.                  
                             To plate this after theatre elegance I swiped some sweet onion and parmesan cream sauce onto the the plate with the back of a spoon placing some chopped green shallots in a pile at one end of the sauce and spiralling the vodka and caviar spaghetto at the other end filled with lumpfish caviar and garnished with some sliced green shallots.