Sea Urchin Salad. “Ahinosalata” ©

 

 

 

 

 

This is an all time speciality for those that like it….my family love it!!!

Easy if you have Sea Urchins readily available in the sea in front of you!

Otherwise you can find them in a good fish market.

 

 

 

4 Persons

 

 

 

Ingredients

As many ‘female’ sea urchins as you can gather ( See Method 1.)

olive oil

lemon juice

a little sea water

Cretan rusks

 

Method

1. Gather your sea urchins using a stick and a mask. The amount gathered  for this recipe was about 20 Sea Urchins. The best time is when there is a new moon, the Urchins have more eggs in them.  Important : The Female ones are redder and larger, with shorter spikes. The male ones are black and have longer spikes. It is the female ones you gather, so as to use the eggs. Often they have a small shell resting on their spines.

2. Using a pair of scissors cut through the shell, starting at the mouth opening. Cut down and around.

3. Remove any green areas first, using the tips of your fingers and rinsing in sea water while you are doing this, to help wash the green parts away and any sand.

4. Finally, again using your fingers, gently detach  the orange eggs into a bowl. Add a little sea water to keep them moist.

5. When you have gathered enough eggs, drizzle with olive oil and lemon juice.

6. Eat immediately, or reserve in the fridge to be eaten the same day.

7. Serve with the best Cretan rusks.

N. B. This is a delicacy and an aphrodisiac. Usually one eats a small bowlful and you either place the eggs on the rusk or break the rusk up in your bowl of  eggs, oil and lemon juice. Being a rich sea food, it is filling and should always be eaten as soon as you gather them so that they are very fresh.

This is a popular dish on “Clean Monday” Kathara Deftera, which marks the beginning of lent.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_urchin

 

Gather the “female” Sea urchins. They are larger and redder. The male one are smaller and blacker.

 

Turn the Sea Urchin upside down, so that the mouth shows.

 

Starting from the mouth, cut round in a wide circle.

 

Cut around the middle with sharp kitchen scissors.

 

In between the orange eggs are green areas. Remove and discard these with your fingers and wash in the sea water, so that only the bright orange eggs remain.

The green areas removed from between the eggs, you can now push away the eggs into a bowl.

They say when the sea- water is very clean, that there are many sea urchins…….here they are plentiful.

The empty shells.

Final result, served with Cretan Rusks.

A real treat……