Sea Urchin 'Roes' of Northeastern Tip of Spain

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Robyn Eckhardt, On the Costa Brava, a Sea Urchin Quest; Savoring the briny taste of the prized 'sea hedgehog': cooked, raw and steps from the source. New York Times, Mar 6, 2016 (in the Travel section published every Sunday).
www.nytimes.com/2016/03/06/trave ... a-urchin-quest.html

Quote:

I came to "Cadaqués, a whitewashed fishing village on the Costa Brava [in Catalonia], for a midmorning nosh of sea urchin. Mr [Pere] Vehi opened each urchin Cadaqués-style, with a large, curved knife, bringing its blade to bear on the sea urchin as he rotated it in the palm of his free hand.

"Like many American sea urchin lovers, I had my first taste at a Japanese restaurant [in US]. I’d eaten it in Japan too. From the first mouthful — a wild seesaw from saline sharpness to fatty roundness — I was entranced.

"Though commonly referred to as roe, the edible part of the sea urchin is actually its reproductive organs, or gonads. Each year Catalonia licenses up to 25 mariscadors, or professional gatherers, to collect and sell purple sea urchin, with a maximum catch of 330 pounds per day.

"Less fatty than the urchins I'd enjoyed as sushi, these [Spanish sea urchins] carried an initial smack of brine followed by a lingering finish at the back of the tongue that varied from mildly sweet to downright honeyed. And they were light, leaving me with an appetite even after I downed a dozen.

"Costa Bravans swear that sea urchins are best eaten raw, but they shone [past tense of 'shine'] in a humble dish of favetes (tiny young fava beans) with quartered slices of blood sausage, olive oil and finely snipped chives and parsley. Barely touched by the heat of the other ingredients, the urchin maintained its brilliant color, along with enough brine and sweetness to balance both the sausage’s fat and the bitter bite of the favas.

Note:
(a) There is no need to read the rest. Do view the map and photos.
(b) Costa Brava
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Costa_Brava
(section 1 Etymology)

Spanish English dictionary:
* costa (noun feminine): "coast"
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/costa
* bravo (adjective masculine): "angry, furious; agitated (sea)"
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bravo

(c) Vicia faba  蠶豆
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vicia_faba
(also known as fava bean; "It is not a true bean. The origin of broad beans is obscure, but the best information indicates the Mediterranean area"/ can induce hemolytic anemia in patients [read: people] with the hereditary condition glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency)
(i) Look at the map whose heading reads, "Worldwide broad bean yield" -- Americans do not grow fava beans, and probably do not eat it.
(ii) This Wiki page says of this bean, "from the Italian fava."

Etymology: Italian noun feminine fava fava bean, from Latin noun feminine faba bean.

(d) "Cadaqués, whose steeply sloped, narrow streets terminate at a perfect half-moon of pebble beach, was our last stop. The village, at the tip of a peninsula * * * We had come to see the former home of Salvador Dalí, who was obsessed with sea urchins, both as food and inspiration; a famous photograph shows the artist eating urchins on a boat, and sea urchin forms are seen in many of his works."

Salvador Dalí
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvador_Dalí
(1904-1989; Catalan resort of Cadaqués; "In 1948 Dalí and [wife] Gala moved back into their house in Port Lligat, on the coast near Cadaqués. For the next three decades, he would spend most of his time there")
(e) "It was unusually hot, the bay glassy."

The bay looks glassy.