Rose Prince’s seaweed recipes: ‘for a real taste of the wild’
Rose Prince, in The Telegraph, gives her favourite recipes cooked with Mara Seaweed and talks about seaweed’s kitchen come-back.
“Slowly, ever so slowly, the wild foods that once marked the difference between starvation and survival are coming back to the table. It is no longer a shock to see dishes with nettles or elderflower, puffball and sloe on a country pub menu. Likewise, amateur foragers cannot pass a fresh young dandelion plant without thinking of a salad, or a patch of wild garlic in the woods without thinking of pesto.
So we are good with some wild things, but seaweed is late to the party. It is strange how we happily eat weirdly shaped molluscs and crustaceans yet fear the ribbons from murky depths.
But an artisan seaweed-harvest tradition is encouraging the use of sea vegetables in cooking, for their intense mineral flavours and because seaweed is very nutritious. Try it: it is as easy to use as a pinch of herbs, and you may be pleasantly surprised.”
Crab Club sandwiches with Dulse Mayonaise “The sea vegetable Dulse pairs expertly with crab”
250g fresh picked crab meat (a mixture of white and brown)
6 slices good-quality sandwich bread
2 handfuls mixed small salad leaves
4 rashers smoked streaky bacon
A few shavings of Caerphilly, Lord of the Hundreds or Manchego cheese
For the mayonnaise
4 egg yolks
1 level tsp Dulse
1 level tsp Dijon mustard
150ml groundnut oil
The juice of half a lemon
A sparing pinch of fine sea salt, to taste
Method:
Put the egg yolks in a mixing bowl with the dulse and mustard. Whisk well, then add the oil a few drops at a time until the mixture is thick and shiny.
You can gradually add larger amounts. When you have added three quarters of the oil, whisk in the lemon juice.
Add the remaining oil, taste, then season if you think the mayonnaise needs more salt.
Toast the bread until golden. Trim off the crusts, then cut each slice in half horizontally by sliding a knife between the toasted sides.
Spread the soft sides of four pieces with mayonnaise, then spoon on a little crab.
Add some salad leaves.
Spread the soft sides of a further four pieces of split toast with mayonnaise. Place these on top of the salad, mayonnaise side down.
Place more crab on the second layer of each sandwich, then mayonnaise, bacon, cheese and leaves.
Finally, spread the remaining four pieces of toast with mayonnaise and complete the sandwiches.
Secure everything with bamboo skewers, then serve.
