Ricette · Mare

Abyss

Spaghetti with sea urchin, raw scampi, crustacean essence, lemon, and extra virgin olive oil pearls

18 September 2026

155 readers

There are dishes that are born from an idea and others that are born simply by looking at the raw material. When I have fresh sea urchins and quality scampi in front of me, the first thing I think is that one must not overcomplicate things. The risk, with such delicate ingredients, is wanting to prove too much and ending up masking them. Here, instead, I have tried to work by subtraction.

The sea urchin must remain recognizable. The scampi must retain its sweetness. The acidity must arrive only at the end, almost like a flash of lightning. The oil must round off the mouthful, not dominate it.

From this idea, Abyss is born. {{VIDEO:https://media.base44.com/videos/public/6a9ca77e8d14c3d8f19eded2/80fc0d9d9_Abisso_Mare_Pescatori.

mp4}} The ingredients For two people I use approximately: 180g of high-quality spaghetti, 80–100g of sea urchin pulp, 6 very fresh scampi, extra virgin olive oil pearls, 1 untreated lemon, delicate EVO oil, 1 small clove of garlic, pasta cooking water, and salt only if truly necessary. Starting with the scampi I clean the scampi, separating the tails from the heads and shells. I do not consider the heads as waste. They are, in reality, one of the most important parts of the dish.

With part of the tails, I prepare a fairly coarse tartare, knife-cut. I want to still feel the texture of the scampi, so I avoid turning it into a cream. I season it only at the last moment with a drop of extra virgin olive oil and a tiny amount of lemon zest. Another two tails, instead, I open longitudinally and place them on a very hot pan for a few seconds.

I don't want to really cook them. I am only interested in obtaining a very slight surface reaction, leaving the heart almost raw. The scampi essence I put the heads and shells in a saucepan with a little bit of EVO oil and crush them well. I toast them lightly, then add about 120ml of cold water.

No wine. No cognac. No tomato. I am not preparing a classic bisque.

I want a much cleaner, almost transparent liquid that tastes only of scampi. I let it simmer gently for a few minutes, filter everything, and reduce the liquid until I obtain a concentrated essence. This will be one of the souls of the dish. The sea urchin is not cooked I blend a part of the sea urchin pulp very briefly with a tiny amount of EVO oil and a few spoonfuls of warm pasta water.

It must become a smooth cream. I leave the rest of the sea urchins whole. It is important because I want to find two different textures in the dish: the sea urchin that coats the spaghetti and the natural sea urchin, almost intact, that arrives at the palate later. There is only one fundamental point: the sea urchin must never boil.

The heat must always be controlled; otherwise, one loses that marine, creamy, and almost sweet sensation that makes it unique. The spaghetti I cook the spaghetti for about two-thirds of the required time. Then I transfer them to a pan and finish the cooking by progressively using the pasta water and my scampi essence. In this phase, I try to create a true natural emulsion.

The starch from the pasta, the water, and the crustacean stock must begin to bind. When the spaghetti is perfectly al dente, I turn off the heat completely. I wait a few seconds. Only at this point do I add the sea urchin cream and stir vigorously.

The residual heat is more than sufficient. In the end, I must obtain a glossy, creamy spaghetti, but without a heavy sauce. The acidity In a dish so rich in marine sweetness, a small interruption is needed. However, I don't want to turn it into a lemon spaghetti.

That is why I use very little lemon. In the dish, I insert only a few small drops of an acidic lemon component, almost imperceptible visually. Its task is not to give a lemon taste. It must only increase salivation and prepare the palate for the next bite.

The oil pearls The extra virgin olive oil pearls are the final detail. I use them in moderation. Three, four, five at most. When they burst in the mouth, they suddenly release the oil and add a different sensation compared to the classic emulsion.

It is a small detail, but it changes the perception of the dish significantly. Plating I create a fairly high nest of spaghetti. On top, I place the scampi tartare, a few sea urchin tongues left whole, half a lightly seared scampi, and a few EVO oil pearls. I add very few drops of the acidic component and finish with an almost invisible grating of lemon zest.

Finally, I pour a teaspoon of the hot scampi essence around the spaghetti. Not on top. I like the idea that the sauce slowly enters the pasta while eating. The essence of the dish In Abyss, I wanted to build three levels of the same sea.

At the bottom, the essence of the scampi. Inside the spaghetti, the sea urchin. On top, the almost raw scampi and the whole sea urchin. The lemon interrupts the sweetness for an instant.

The oil pearls bring it back towards roundness. I do not add parsley, pepper, or other elements simply to add color. When the raw material is this, the hardest work is not adding. It is knowing when to stop.

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