Sea Urchin Popcorn

Components:

• Sea Urchin Butter

• Popcorn

• Bottarga

• Lemon

• Togarashi

 

Sea Urchin Butter

Yield: 1 pound

Ingredients

• 1 # softened, unsalted butter

• 4 ounces sea urchin roe

• 2 Tbs kosher salt

 

Method

​

Place the butter in a food processor and blend until smooth. Blend the sea urchin in a blender until smooth and slowly pour in the food processor, along with the salt, and spin until fully incorporated. Once the mixture is homogenous, taste for salt and use a rubber spatula to scrape the mixture into a small metal mixing bowl for later use.

​

Popcorn

Yield: 4 cups

Ingredients

• 1 Tbs canola oil

• 2 Tbs popcorn kernels

• 2 Tbs kosher salt

 

Method

 

Heat the oil in a medium saucepot over medium heat until fluid in the pan. Add the popcorn kernels and salt, swirl, and cover with a lid. Continue to shake the pot gently every 3 minutes until all the kernels are popped. Turn off the heat, remove the lid, and pour out the popped popcorn onto a tray lined with paper towels.

​

Plating

 

Scoop one cup of the popcorn into 4 clean sea urchin shells or small bowls if you don’t happen to have an abundant supply of urchin paraphernalia lying around. Simmer a small amount of water in a saucepot and whisk the sea urchin butter bowl above the steam to achieve a pourable consistency with the mixture, without completely melting the butter. Use a spoon to drizzle 4 ounces of the butter over each portion of popcorn. Sprinkle ½ teaspoon of togarashi spice evenly over each portion and zest one half of a lemon over each. Grate as much or as little bottarga over each portion as you desire and enjoy!