Artist's Palate: Paola Pivi's pasta with sea urchin

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Paola Pivi’s pasta with sea urchin
’Naturofantastic’ plate, £70, by Marco Antonio Noguerón, for Lladró, lladro.com. ‘Colombina’ fish fork, £9, by Doriana & Massimiliano Fuksas, for Alessi, alessi.com
(Image credit: John Short)

Wildlife is a recurring ingredient for Italy-born, Alaska-based multimedia artist Paola Pivi – from the feather-festooned polar bears that took up residence in Galerie Perrotin’s New York space for its opening in 2013 to the taxidermy wildcats, llamas and birds that appear in other of her sculptures and installations. Her preferred dish, a simple yet decadent pasta recipe, does something just as transformative with sea urchins. Pivi favours the Italian version, with fewer ingredients than its Anglo-Saxon rivals. Sea urchin, pasta, seasoning, done.

Ingredients
200g sea urchins
500g pasta
extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper
fresh parsley

Method
Open the sea urchins with a knife and extract the eggs. Boil the pasta in salted boiling water until cooked, then cool under running water. Drain and transfer to a salad bowl. Mix in some olive oil, then disperse the sea urchin eggs on top. Season with salt and pepper, add some parsley, snipped into small pieces, then mix thoroughly. Serve warm.

INFORMATION

Interiors: Maria Sobrino. Food: Lucy-Ruth Hathaway

Pei-Ru Keh

Pei-Ru Keh is a former US Editor at Wallpaper*. Born and raised in Singapore, she has been a New Yorker since 2013. Pei-Ru held various titles at Wallpaper* between 2007 and 2023. She reports on design, tech, art, architecture, fashion, beauty and lifestyle happenings in the United States, both in print and digitally. Pei-Ru took a key role in championing diversity and representation within Wallpaper's content pillars, actively seeking out stories that reflect a wide range of perspectives. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two children, and is currently learning how to drive.