Standing behind the demo bench at the Sea to Shore Glenelg Seafood Festival, I watched the moment urchin clicked for people – the slight hesitation, then the expression that changed when they actually tasted it. My job as a chef is to make that moment easier to reach. Sea urchin roe is rich and oceanic, with a depth that most people have never encountered outside a Japanese restaurant. After watching the Great Southern Reef Foundation’s White Rock documentary, the case for eating it moved beyond flavour for me – overgrazing urchins are stripping Australia’s kelp forests, and eating them is part of addressing that. The simplest entry point is this butter. Once it’s in your freezer, you’re one slice away from transforming a piece of baked fish or a bowl of pasta.

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⏱️ Preparation Time: 15 minutes
🍳 Cooking Time: Nil
🍽️ Yield: 600gm

👩‍🍳 Cooking Method: Nil – Stand mixer or hand mix

📝 Ingredients:

• 500gm unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
• 100gm sea urchin roe (uni), brine drained
• 50gm garlic chives, finely sliced
• 50gm shallots, finely diced
• 5gm fine salt flakes

👩‍🍳 Method:

1. Drain the brine from the urchin roe. Tip it onto a clean cloth or a double layer of paper towel and leave it uncovered in the fridge while you do your knife work. You want the surface moisture gone before it meets the butter.
2. Finely slice the garlic chives. Finely dice the shallots.
3. Remove the urchin roe from the fridge. Chop through it with a knife until it breaks down to a coarse paste – you’re not looking for completely smooth, just no large pieces remaining.
4. Place the softened butter in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add the urchin roe paste, garlic chives, shallots, and salt. Mix on medium speed for 1 minute until the mix is fully homogeneous and the roe is evenly distributed throughout. Stop and scrape down the bowl once during mixing.
5. Lay a sheet of cling wrap flat on the bench. Spoon the butter in a line along the centre, then roll into a tight log approximately 4-5cm in diameter. Twist the ends firmly to seal. Repeat for a second log if needed.
6. Place in the freezer for a minimum of 2 hours until firm. To use, remove from the freezer and slice directly from the frozen log – you’re looking for rounds of approximately 20-30gm per portion.

🥣 Serving Suggestions:

1. For baked fish, lay a sheet of baking paper under the fish before it goes into the oven – it catches the butter as it melts and makes cleanup easy. Place a 20–30gm slice directly on top of the portion before baking.
2. Toss through hot pasta with a splash of reserved pasta water and a handful of flat-leaf parsley for a fast weeknight dinner.
3. Wine pairing: a textured white with saline character – a Fiano, an aged Hunter Valley Semillon, or a skin-contact white.

📝 Notes:

• No stand mixer? Let the butter soften fully at room temperature – it should leave an indent when pressed – then work everything together in a bowl with a hand mixer on medium, or by hand with a wooden spoon.
• Draining the roe well is the one non-negotiable step. Excess moisture will split the butter and leave you with a greasy, uneven mix.
• Sea urchin roe can vary noticeably in natural salinity – taste before you add the full 5gm of salt and adjust accordingly.
• Sea urchin availability is seasonal. Source through Fair Seafood or ask your fishmonger — urchin from South Australian waters is the first choice for provenance and freshness.
• This recipe is part of the Eat An Urchin platform, developed through the Great Southern Reef Foundation’s chef collective to champion sea urchin as a genuinely sustainable species worth cooking with.

Download Recipe Recipe

🧊Storage:

Fridge Friendly Instructions:

Freeze for up to 3 months, wrapped tightly in cling wrap.

Slice directly from the frozen log as needed – no need to thaw the entire log. Return the remainder to the freezer immediately.

Freezer Friendly Instructions:

Once sliced and thawed, unused butter keeps in the fridge for up to 5 days. Store in a glass container or wrapped tightly in cling wrap.

🥗Nutritional – per 25gm serve (approx. 24 serves from one 600gm batch) :

• Calories – 175
• Kilojoules – 735
• Total Fat – 12gm
• Saturated fat – 5gm
• Monounsaturated Fat – 5gm
• Polyunsaturated Fat – 1gm
• Trans Fat – 0gm
• Cholesterol – 52mg
• Sodium – 118mg
• Potassium – 28mg
• Total Carbohydrate – 0.5gm
• Dietary Fibre – 0gm
• Sugars – 0.2gm
• Protein – 1.5gm
• Vitamin A – 3%
• Vitamin C – 11%
• Calcium – 1%
• Iron – 1% 

*The Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie / 8370 Kilojoule diet, so your values may change depending on your calorie/kilojoule needs. The values here may not be 100% accurate because the recipes have not been professionally evaluated.