Free Food -Foraged Sea Spaghetti

Early on Sunday morning while I was still in the throws of sleep, my brothers headed off to Brownstown Head, Waterford with the intention of catching some mackerel for a BBQ. Alas they were not fruitful when it came to the fishies, but Rich did return with a few fist fulls of Sea Spaghetti or to give it it's Latin name Himanthalia Elongata. It is a delicious sea vegetable, a kind of Kelp, easy to use, free to gather and of course full of nutrients. We took the saltiness out by sitting it in a bowl of fresh water for a couple of hours. Each time I passed the bowl the hand would dip in and break a piece off crunching on the raw snake like curiosity. To cook it I blanched it for 4/5 mins. in boiling water and then tossed it in the pan with some butter and fresh, wet garlic and chive flowers from my Poppas garden...finishing with a grind of pepper and salt -Yum!

Beautiful Chive flowers

Oh oh Spaghetti Oh

Poppa & Richards first garlic harvest