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Where to eat Spaghetti ai ricci di mare in Cagliari

Spaghetti stirred through raw sea urchin roe with oil and a little garlic, so the heat of the pasta warms the roe without cooking it. It is a winter plate on the Cagliari coast, made in minutes.

The story of Spaghetti ai ricci di mare

Sea urchins have been harvested along the Sardinian coast for as long as anyone has written about it, and around Cagliari the ricci season traditionally runs from November to April, when the roe is full. The dish is deliberately minimal: the urchin roe is scooped from the shell and folded through hot spaghetti with olive oil, a little garlic and parsley, and nothing else, because cream or tomato would bury it. The catch has been under pressure in recent years and the regional fishery has been restricted to let stocks recover, so the plate now appears on Marina menus only when the season and the rules allow it.

How to make Spaghetti ai ricci di mare

Serves: Serves 2

Ingredients

  • 200g spaghetti
  • The roe of 20 to 25 sea urchins, or 80g prepared urchin roe
  • 1 garlic clove, lightly crushed
  • 4 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon chopped flat parsley
  • Salt

Method

  1. Open the urchins from the soft underside with scissors, rinse out the liquid and lift the five roe strips into a bowl. Keep them cold.
  2. Warm the oil gently with the garlic in a wide pan for 2 minutes, then remove the garlic and take the pan off the heat.
  3. Cook the spaghetti in well salted water until just short of al dente.
  4. Drain, keeping a ladle of pasta water, and toss the spaghetti in the warm oil with a splash of the water to make it glossy.
  5. Off the heat, fold in two thirds of the roe so it melts into a sauce without cooking, then check the salt.
  6. Plate and finish with the remaining raw roe and the parsley.

Editor tip. The pan must be off the heat when the roe goes in. Direct heat turns it grainy and dulls the sea flavour.

The editor picks for Spaghetti ai ricci di mare in Cagliari are still in research. Meanwhile, see the Cagliari signature-dishes index or the Cagliari food guide.