Simple pasta recipe: Orrechiette with broccoli & Linguini with creamy sea urchin sauce

Both pastas are very simple recipes that do not call for tomato sauces.


Orrechiette with Broccoli and guanciale
San Gallo restaurant in Rome, where I worked for a few days two years ago, used Romanesco broccoli but I substituted it with green califlower (you can use regular broccoli too).


1. Start boiling orrechiette.
2. In a sauce pan fry minced guanciale (or pancetta) over low heat. Once the guanchiale pieces turn nice and brown, discard the grease and set the guanciale aside.
3. In the same pan, add olive oil and minced garlic. Over low heat cook the garlic until golden brown.
4. Add chopped broccoli and guanciale. Add a bit of water from the pasta pot to fully cook broccoli.
5. Add cooked orrechiete in and season with salt and pepper.
6. Add plenty of grated pecorino cheese and serve.

Linguini with fresh sea urchin sauce
The key to this recipe is sea urchin of course. Surprisingly, you can get premium sashimi quality local sea urchin at Uwajimaya (well to me it was a big surprise.). I'd say sea urchin from Puget Sound could well compete with sea urchin from Hokkaido. No need to go for imported sea urchin!

(serves 1)
1. Start boiling linguini.
2. In a sauce pan, cook minced garlic (1 teaspoon) in olive oil over low heat.
3. Add white wine (50cc) and evaporate alcohol.
4. Add crushed canned tomato (1 tablespoon) and chopped Italian parsley (1 tablespoon) in and reduce the liquid till it gets heavier consistency.
5. Add heavy cream (100cc) and season with salt and pepper. Reduce the sauce down to 2/3 of the original volume.
6. Add sea urchin (2 oz) and butter (1 teaspoon). Do not overheat from this point on. Take the pan off the heat if necessary.
7. Add teh linguini and toss with the sauce.