10 oz dry spaghetti
5 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil, more for drizzling
6 cloves garlic, peeled
4 anchovies minced
¼ to ½ tsp crushed red chili flakes
9 ounces grape or cherry tomatoes, or grated tomato
Sea salt
About 3 3/4 ounces (1 small standard-size tray with about 20 pieces) sea urchin
Splash of white wine
1/2 cup of fume or equivalent
1/2 cup chopped parsley
Bring a medium pot of water to a boil over high heat.
When halfway cooked start making the sauce.
Meanwhile, in a skillet large enough to hold pasta later on, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add garlic, reduce heat to low, and slowly cook on all sides, turning often, until cloves are lightly browned and caramelized, about 10 minutes.
Raise heat under skillet to medium, add anchovies and chili flakes and cook, stirring, until toasted, about 2 minutes.
Add wine until reduced by half
Add fume and reduce
Add tomatoes and cook, turning gently, just until wilted.
Up to this point everything can be done in advance if you will be serving later
With medium to low heat , add the sea urchin(saving one for each plate)to skillet with a sprinkle of salt and a splash of pasta cooking water. Let the urchin break down for a few minutes until a sauce is created. Continue to let the sauce come together. Don't break up the roe completely. It's nice to get occasional nuggets of urchin roe with a bite of pasta.
Add pasta to skillet and toss thoroughly but gently over low heat, adding pasta cooking water if mixture is dry. Taste for salt and toss in parsley. Serve hot, decorating each serving with a sea urchin ,and drizzle with oil
Add fresh ground pepper .
The dish is essentially a medium to showcase the taste of the Uni or Sea Urchin .Originally olive oil with garlic and red peppers and pasta tossed with pepper and parsley were the components of the dish. Some add tomatoes or bread crumbs or lemon zest . I tried all of these and will now only add tomato to this simple classic recipe. Zest overpowers the Uni in my opinion.
