Truffles with sea urchins… an unusual start

 

 

two kinds of sea urchin

The Duc flips out over sea urchins (Oursins, in French). I quite like them too. This time of year, we have them on Sundays as a special treat. We especially like the ones that come from Iceland, as they are usually the most complex. But we never know which provenance the fishmonger will have.

There is a gamy-ness to sea urchins that we thought might go well with truffles. But we had never seen, tasted or heard of this combination.

So we got 2 different kinds of sea urchins-Spanish (from the northern Atlantic coast off of Galicia) and Icelandic (lighter colored in the photo).

The truffle mixed well with the Spanish sea urchin and bringing out the gaminess and the finish is really gingery. (The best sea urchins have that gingery-ness to them). But it also brings out a bitterness that takes away from the purity of the combination. The sea urchin on its own would have been longer and sweeter without the truffle.

The Icelandic sea urchin with the truffle was more harmonious and sweeter than the Spanish combo. The truffle ended up dominating the length of the mouth.

May be this is why the great French chefs never mix these two ingredients….but we had to try.

truffles with sea urchins