Winter is the time for Mediterranean seafood, particularly late winter, before the start of the breeding season takes many of our favourite fish off the menu.

One delicacy that can be found right through to spring is pasta ai ricci di mare — pasta with sea urchins. Although urchins can be eaten raw and unadorned — the flesh simply scooped out of the shells with a piece of crisp bread — they excel as an accompaniment to pasta.

Covered with fragile purple-black quills when harvested from the rocks, the urchin is not overburdened with brains: the space inside those Fabergé-like exteriors being mostly taken up with sex organs instead.

In fact, sea urchins are said to be so lacking in the brain department, they have trouble telling whether they are alive or not, which is why they can go on waving their spines at you even after they have been cut in half.

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Removing the spines and cutting open the shell is not a job for the fainthearted. Once open, five fleshy orange gonads are revealed — the word is used of both sexes, although some recipes specify the lighter-coloured female sea urchin for the added crunch and graininess of the roe.

Whichever sex you’re using, the tonguelike sacs are simply tossed into a little garlic-infused olive oil, cooked for a few moments and then mixed with linguine or spaghetti. In Sicily, you might also dust the finished dish with a covering of grated botargo, the salty dried roe of a mullet or swordfish.

The texture of the cooked sea urchin is light, almost yolky, and it can easily be mixed into the pasta using a fork. Bigger is considered tastier — smaller specimens don’t have so much of the sugary, seaweedy aroma and taste that is so prized by connoisseurs.

Sea urchins are not simply abundant and delicious: they’re also cheap. No need to go to a fancy restaurant to enjoy them, either — just find somewhere within sight of the sea where the seafood is absolutely fresh.

Where to go: Naples down to Sicily is a particularly good region for rock-based seafood of all kinds, thanks to the craggy cliffs that dominate the coastline. But sea urchins are eaten on the other side of the Med as well.

Claudia Roden’s A Book of Middle Eastern Food has this description: “Hunting for ritza (sea urchins) is a favourite pastime in Alexandria. It’s a pleasure to discover hosts of dark purple and black spiky jewel-like balls clinging fast to the rocks, a triumph to wrench them away, and a delight to cut a piece off the top, squeeze a little lemon over the soft, salmon-coloured flesh, scoop it out with some bread, and savour the subtle iodised taste, lulled by the rhythm of the sea.” If you’re going to harvest your own, you’ll need a sharp knife — and some hard-core leather gloves.

What to drink: the indigenous whites of southern Italy are enjoying a renaissance. Feudi di San Gregorio is one of the estates leading the charge, with fine examples of fiano, falanghina, greco di tufo and aglianico all worth a try.

Insider tip: ricci is pronounced “ritchee” and literally means hedgehogs — which used to be called urchins in English, too. In Japan and California, sea urchin is called uni and is so sought after for sushi that harvesting with dredgers has all but wiped out their habitat. The Italian and Spanish supplies, by contrast, are admirably sustainable.

Anthony Capella’s latest novel is The Various Flavours of Coffee (Sphere £6.99)

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