Cooking
Sea urchin or uni is rich and creamy. It tastes very briny and yet sweet. Emulsified with some extra virgin olive oil and lemon juice, it makes a wonderful sauce for pasta. The type of pasta you use is up to you of course, but isn't it gorgeous on squid ink pasta? I love the look and flavor of squid ink pasta. It's such a treat! I got mine from Mattarello, a fresh pasta company run by John Pauley and his wife Anna.
I was a fan of John's pasta back when he was still cooking at Rex Cafe around the corner from my house. Now he sells his pasta at pop ups, generally at either Gourmet and More on Franklin or Biondivino wine shop on Green Street. His squid ink pasta is so good you can enjoy it with just a simple olive oil, garlic and white wine sauce with a little bit of chili flakes or parsley. He also sells lasagna, tortellini and some different shapes and styles of pasta, all made by hand.
This pasta is really a showstopper. I'd recommend serving it for a special occasion or dinner party. I adapted the recipe from one by Sara Jenkins I found in La Cucina Italiana, "spaghetti ai ricci di mare" but I simplified it a bit and didn't use any garlic.
Note: Another option is to make the sauce and top the pasta with another type of seafood instead of just more sea urchin. It's delicious with sautéed scallops or shrimp.
Sea Urchin Spaghetti
Serves 4 as a starter or 2 as a main course
Ingredients
About 4 ounces fresh sea urchin, divided
2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 pound fresh pasta preferably squid ink spaghetti
2 Tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley
1 Tablespoon finely chopped chives
Instructions
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Combine 2 1/2 ounces sea urchin and lemon juice in the blender, purée until smooth. With blender running, add oil in a slow and steady stream until you have a thick emulsified sauce, the texture of mayonnaise. Transfer the sauce and parsley to a large bowl.
Cook pasta until just al dente. Drain and place in the bowl with sauce and parsley, and toss together. Let pasta sit just until it absorbs some of the sauce, about 1 minute, then season with salt to taste. Portion pasta onto serving plates. Top with remaining uni and garnish with chives.
Enjoy!
Disclaimer: My thanks to Whole Foods for providing a sample of sea urchin for this recipe.
- All About Sea Urchins
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Cooking
Sea Urchin Spaghetti Recipe
I was a fan of John's pasta back when he was still cooking at Rex Cafe around the corner from my house. Now he sells his pasta at pop ups, generally at either Gourmet and More on Franklin or Biondivino wine shop on Green Street. His squid ink pasta is so good you can enjoy it with just a simple olive oil, garlic and white wine sauce with a little bit of chili flakes or parsley. He also sells lasagna, tortellini and some different shapes and styles of pasta, all made by hand.
This pasta is really a showstopper. I'd recommend serving it for a special occasion or dinner party. I adapted the recipe from one by Sara Jenkins I found in La Cucina Italiana, "spaghetti ai ricci di mare" but I simplified it a bit and didn't use any garlic.
Note: Another option is to make the sauce and top the pasta with another type of seafood instead of just more sea urchin. It's delicious with sautéed scallops or shrimp.
Sea Urchin Spaghetti
Serves 4 as a starter or 2 as a main course
Ingredients
About 4 ounces fresh sea urchin, divided
2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 pound fresh pasta preferably squid ink spaghetti
2 Tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley
1 Tablespoon finely chopped chives
Instructions
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Combine 2 1/2 ounces sea urchin and lemon juice in the blender, purée until smooth. With blender running, add oil in a slow and steady stream until you have a thick emulsified sauce, the texture of mayonnaise. Transfer the sauce and parsley to a large bowl.
Cook pasta until just al dente. Drain and place in the bowl with sauce and parsley, and toss together. Let pasta sit just until it absorbs some of the sauce, about 1 minute, then season with salt to taste. Portion pasta onto serving plates. Top with remaining uni and garnish with chives.
Enjoy!
Disclaimer: My thanks to Whole Foods for providing a sample of sea urchin for this recipe.
- All About Sea Urchins
Recently I had sea urchin served on a bed of softly scrambled eggs with brioche toast at MKT (a new restaurant in the Four Seasons in San Francisco). It was probably the sweetest tasting sea urchin I had ever eaten. The waiter told me it came from the...
- Al Dente Pasta: Favorite Things
It's no secret that I'm crazy about pasta. I could eat it everyday. Something about the texture of noodles is so appealing to me. I like glutinous chewy noodles, egg noodles, tiny little types like orzo, soup noodles, crispy noodles. I like them...
- Pasta Puttanesca: Recipe
It's not often that my other half requests pasta for dinner. If he did, we would probably eat pasta every day. Even the family I lived with in Italy was amazed at my appetite for it. Though we lived in Florence, we ate risotto and soup as a...
- Gremolata Meatballs Recipe
Coming back from Hawaii I was so glad to have made some meatballs and put them in the freezer. It was the perfect quick meal when the fridge was empty. Just boil up the pasta and go! They were even better the second time around. I have never made the...
- Lasagnette With Lemon Recipe
Do you believe in reincarnation? Not being part of my cultural or religious tradition the concept of reincarnation always seemed pretty farfetched to me. Except for one thing. I buy dry pasta like it's going out of style. Right now I have on hand...