Maine Uni Pasta Recipe – SoPo Seafood

by SoPo Seafood's Jacqueline Clark AKA the Briny Babe

Beautifully sweet and oozing with brine, uni (aka sea urchin roe) is a delicacy begging to incorporated into your dinner routine. Uni is like the foie gras of the sea, and can be whipped up with some butter to make a citrusy and briny sauce for pasta. The one question we get asked is “will cooking with uni make my pasta fishy?” No! Good, market fresh uni should not be fishy. Instead, the uni will add in a delectable brine to your pasta sauce (think: adding anchovies to an olive oil-based pasta sauce or dressing!)

Pro Trip: before diving into this recipe, set aside a few lobes of uni as the final garnish for your dish. Not only will this add in a welcoming mouthful of briny buttery goodness, but it will be a natural “wow” factor for your dish. If you really want to amp up the decadence on this dish, add in a few dollops of caviar. We love using osetra caviar, which has a mesmerizing golden hue that sparkles against the vibrant orange of your uni butter pasta.

Maine Uni with SoPo Caviar Recipe Video

Facts
• Prep Time: 10 minutes
• Marinate Time: 20 minutes
• Total Time: 30 minutes
• Servings: 6

Ingredients
o 1 container of fresh Maine Uni
o 1 lb bucatini or linguine
o 1 stick butter, unsalted (approx. 8 TBSP)
o ½ tsp lemon juice
o 1 TBSP olive oil
o 1 shallot, finely diced
o 1 garlic clove, finely diced
o 1 tsp, red pepper flakes
o Salt and pepper to taste
o ¼ cup dry white wine
o Osetra caviar

Instructions

1. Set aside 10-12 large lobes of the uni as a final garnish. Do not eat these right away – they are tempting!

2. Warm up a stick of unsalted butter to room temperature.

3. With a sharp knife, chop up the uni lobes until you have something that essentially resembles orange gak. (This is the best description we had).

4. In a mixing bowl, mix together the unsalted butter and the uni. If you have access to a food processor, you can also blend the uni and unsalted butter together.

5. Once the uni and butter have blended, drizzle in a half teaspoon of freshly squeezed lemon juice. Set aside.

6. Bring a pot of water to a boil. Add in a hearty sprinkling of sea salt. Next, add your pasta, and cook according to your package instructions. Drain the pasta.

7. Over medium heat, add the olive oil, shallot, garlic, and red pepper flakes to a saute pan, stirring frequently until the shallot and garlic are tender, roughly 2 minutes. Add in the dry white wine, and stir frequently.

8. Next, add the uni butter to the shallots, garlic, and red pepper flake mixture. Allow the butter to begin to melt. Next, add in the cooked pasta. Mix the uni butter and pasta together with a pair of tongs until the uni butter is evenly distributed. Add more uni butter to the pan as necessary depending on how buttery you want your pasta.

9. Plate your uni butter pasta. Carefully adorn the pasta with a few reserved pieces of uni. If you want to get really fancy (I mean, we’re already making uni butter pasta), garnish with a few dollops of amber-hued osetra caviar. Enjoy!

Buy Fresh Sea Urchin Roe and Osetra Caviar Online

This recipe was created using SoPo Seafood's fresh Sea Urchin Roe (Uni) & Osetra Caviar. Our Uni and Caviar is available to purchase online for overnight delivery to your door or for pick up at our retail fish market in South Portland.