Sea urchin pasta (Linguine with ricci)

This dish is deceptively simple, made with sea urchin already removed from the shell. It has a wonderful briny, iodine sweetness.

Sea urchin pasta Credit: Andrea Taccone, Alba Salentinian Restaurant

• serves

  4

• prep

  10 minutes

• cook

  10 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 500 g fresh or 300 g dried linguine or spaghetti
• 1 tbsp (20 ml) extra virgin olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• ¼ - ½ tsp chilli flakes or 1 fresh bird's eye chilli, chopped
• 170 g sea urchin
• ¼ cup finely chopped flat-leaf parsley, plus extra for garnish
• 1 tsp lemon zest (optional)
• salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions

1. Bring a large saucepan (at least 4 litres) of water to the boil over high heat and add sea salt. Add the pasta, stirring till the water returns to a boil (this prevents pasta from sticking together). Cook according to package instructions.
2. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large frying pan over medium-low heat. Add the garlic and cook with the fresh chilli (if using), stirring for 2 minutes, or until fragrant and soft. If using chilli flakes, stir in now (see Notes).
3. When the pasta is ready, remove the sauce from the heat and stir through the sea urchin (reserve 4 pieces for garnish), allowing the sea urchin to break up into smaller chunks. Season to taste with salt and pepper and stir through the parsley.
4. Drain the pasta, reserving a cup of the cooking liquid. Add the pasta to the sauce with a splash of pasta water and toss to combine.
5. Divide the pasta between warm serving bowls and finish with the sea urchin, parsley and lemon zest, if using. 

Notes

• Sea urchin can be found at high quality fishmongers.

• From Lyndey, after adding the chilli flakes you can pour a cup (60 ml) of dry white wine and, if you like, ¼ - ½ cup of crème fraiche. Reduce the heat to low and simmer until the pasta is ready.

• From Andrea, if your sauce is too liquid, you can add some pangrattato, which is also nice as a final garnish, better if flavoured with your favourite herbs.

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Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.