We got up early this morning to go to the Fisherman’s Market to buy some freshly caught fish directly from our local Santa Barbara fishermen.

I bought sea urchin while my husband Dave chose some fish from a fisherman down the row. Urchin diver Stephanie Mutz shared a recipe for scrambled eggs with urchin and we talked about possible variations. I bought two big beautiful live urchins.

When I got home I cleaned the meat out of the urchins. Dave heated some oil with fresh garlic for a quick saute of the urchin pieces.

We had four eggs from my son Shaun’s backyard chickens, two brown eggs and two blue eggs. I went outside to pick a chili pepper and some kale leaves.

I diced a locally grown organic tomato and salted it to draw away some of the juices. After mincing the chili and chopping the kale, I heated the chili in a couple of tablespoons of local olive oil and began to scramble the eggs.

I put the urchin pieces into the scramble just as the eggs began to set. When that was hot, I wilted the kale in it.

The diced tomato went into the scramble just before serving. I set aside a few freshly diced tomatoes for garnish.

I topped each serving with freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

Shaun’s wife Kris wasn’t sure she’d like urchin with eggs but changed her mind quickly after tasting this. That’s a piece of urchin at the middle left. Smaller pieces are integrated into the scramble.

We saved a few urchin pieces for pizza later today but this is a brilliant way to use fresh live urchin purchased in the morning before breakfast.