|
![]() The Irish Seaweed Kitchen by Prannie Rhatigan |
Prannie Rhatigan grew up on the west coast of Ireland. As children, her father took her and her siblings seaweed harvesting, teaching them which crops came at what seasons and how to harvest them without damaging the plants. Back home she learnt how to cook the seaweeds fresh, or how to dry them for future use, how to use them as the main ingredient in a dish such as laver or sleabhac bread, sea spaghetti salad or, more recently, a seaweed smoothie, or as a flavouring in anything from a nut roast to a chocolate brownie. Later, Prannie studied to become a doctor and learnt that seaweeds were not only delicious but wonderfully healthy, not only providing excellent nutrition but delivering preventative and therapeutic benefits as anti-viral, anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory agents. And now she has gathered together her own knowledge and experience, along with that of friends and colleagues, cooks, restaurateurs, fisherman and community gardeners in the Irish Seaweed Kitchen, a delightful 250 pages of recipes, seaweed lore, harvesting and storage advice, nutritional information – plus contact details for where those of us who are not lucky enough to live in the West of Ireland can buy seaweed. And all illustrated with hundreds of wonderful pictures. Although the Irish Seaweed Kitchen is not, technically, a 'freefrom' cookery book, many of the recipes are already 'freefrom' and where they are not, it is very easy to substitute gluten/wheat-free or dairy-free ingredients. Interestingly, for those of you on wheat/gluten-free diets, Prannie herself never eats wheat . 'I don't think', she says, 'people understand how detrimental wheat is to health. I make everything for myself with rice flour and use spelt or rye for the rest of the family. Things can turn out a little flatter but I compensate by using an extra egg sometimes.' We are giving four of Prannie's recipes below but that is only a tiny taster of the goodies on offer in the book. How about Baked hoisin onions wrapped in kelp, for example, or Broad bean and seaweed paté, her Green Seaweed Smoothie, a whole series of sushi recipes, Black bream streamed over seaweed with fennel sauce, Sea spaghetti cookies, Nori and no flour chocolate cake with lemon curd topping or – how to resist.... – Chocolate fondant with nori..... If you cannot resist and you want that book for yourself – or as a gift – perfect Christmas or birthday gift.... you can buy it direct from Prannie's website, www.prannie.com, for a very reasonable €25 + €8.50–€15 P&P depending on where in the world you want it sent – or you can get it from Amazon here.
Sprouted Seaweed Hummus You can buy seaweeds used below from www.seaveg.co.uk, www.dolphinseaveg.com, www.clegganseaweed.com or www.algaranb.com. Sprouted Seaweed Hummus Recipe from Jessica Reid artist. 250g/1/2 packet of organic chickpeas Optional extras To prepare the chickpeas Hummus
Seaweed and Porcini Mushroom Risotto Although it may seem odd to feature a recipe from landlocked Switzerland in a seaweed cookery book ,the harvesting component of a dish is strikingly similar, We harvest on the shore, and the Swiss, equally passionately, harvest the upland forests for mushrooms of all kinds. Andrea Oestreich a forensic toxicologist, a native of Graubunden, Switzerland. As a child he gathered mushrooms on early autumn mornings with his parents in the Alpine woods, some 6000 feet above sea level. This risotto has been Andréa’s party piece for many years and he was very reluctant to have it invaded by alien sea plants However even he has to agree that it brought the dish to a new level. Seaweed used – Sea spaghetti and Alaria 20g (3/4 oz) dried sea spaghetti snipped into 5mm (1/2 in) pieces To prepare the sea spaghetti and porcini Rinse the sea spaghetti briefly under a cold tap to remove any sand and then soak for l hour in the measured lukewarm water. Soak the porcini in cold water for 3 minutes and rinse well under cold tap to remove forest grit. Add to bowl of soaking sea spaghetti for 1 hour. To prepare the risotto Melt the butter or heat the oil in a saucepan over moderate heat and the finely chopped onion and cook until translucent.
Sticky Figgy pudding with brandied Alaria
This wonderful pudding retains the richness of an old fashioned winter treat – the brandied Alaria an praline topping making it a dessert fit to grace the most discerning of Christmas tables do go to the bother of making a topping as it makes it extra special. Seaweed used:Alaria Brandied Alaria: Using scissors strip the dried Alaria into 5mm (1/4 inch ) pieces and place in a bowl. Add the brandy Pudding To prepare the pudding To steam Praline Sauce To prepare the praline sauce
Walnut and nori Chocolate brownies The flavour of the nori pairs brilliantly with the chocolate and also does a superb job in keeping the brownies moist and dense. You will never make them any other way. Seaweeds used ; Nori 4-5 (I sheet ) nori, torn and soaked in a few tablespoons of tepid water, mixed to a paste using a fork and set aside. Preheat the oven to 180 c/Gas 4; oil a 20-22cm (8–9”) square tin. Cook's tip |