From Sea Urchin to Uni

You might find it quite amazing that this came from this:





Up until a particularly adventurous trip to the Farmer's Market a few weeks ago, I would have doubted that anyone other than a skilled sushi chef or an otter could successfully open this sea urchin, dig out the tasty pieces, toast up a gluten free baguette, slather some tomato paste on top, and artfully place the uni on top as an appetizer. But in his feat to constantly amaze and inspire me (ahem, and make me eat strange foods), C did just that.

Uni is fresh and salty, not unlike a mouthful of ocean water. The process of opening this spiky critter is challenging, and the man who sold it to us must have told us 15 times that uni stains. Like, really badly. C lined the sink with plastic bags, got out our chefs knife and oyster shucker and promptly proclaimed that the inside of a sea urchin is the darkest thing he'd ever seen. Before long, the gunk that is inedible was separated from those 5 delightfully edible pieces commonly referred to as the eggs (a quick Wikipedia search will set the anatomy of what you're actually eating straight) and the only thing stained were C's hands. Between the oyster shucking and the sea urchin butchering, he's quickly gaining on the otter's skills.