Sea Spaghetti, The Latest Wild Food Fad

It is often hard to get people to even consider eating seaweed (sea vegetables) despite their health benefits and their traditional use in coastal communities around the globe. However, sea spaghetti (Himanthalia elongata). Despite being a seaweed, it is dried and packaged like spaghetti and can be substituted in any recipe that calls for spaghetti, tagliatelle or spaghetti squash. It is suitable for those who are gluten intolerant and is becoming popular with raw food enthusiasts, as it only needs to be soaked over night (or even, at a pinch, for 30 minutes in warm water) before it is ready to eat.

The recipe below is a classic dish where Sea Spaghetti has been substituted for the more traditional tagliatelle.

Sea Spaghetti Mediterranean Salad Recipe

Ingredients:
50g dried sea spaghetti
8 ripe tomatoes, chopped
2 small yellow onion, peeled and diced
75g pitted black olives, sliced
4 garlic cloves, minced
6 tbsp olive oil
6 tbsp dry white wine
1/2 tsp dried oregano leaves, crumbled
6 tbsp fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely shredded
freshly-ground black pepper, to taste
2 balls of buffalo mozzarella, diced (optional)
torn basil, to garnish

Method:
Rinse the sea spaghetti well, place in a bowl, cover with water then set aside to soak in the refrigerator over night. The following day, rinse the sea spaghetti thoroughly, place in a pan of boiling water and blanch for 2 minutes (this restores the vibrant colour of the seaweed) then drain.

In the meantime, whisk together the olive oil and white wine in a bowl. Add the tomatoes, onion, olives, garlic, oregano and parsley. Toss to coat and season to taste with salt and black pepper.

Arrange the sea spaghetti in a serving dish and pour over the dressing. Garnish with the mozzarella and torn basil then serve immediately.

For more information on edible seaweeds and links to descriptions of various edible seaweeds and their recipes see the guide to edible seaweeds (sea vegetables).

This recipe is reproduced, with permission, from the Celtnet Mediterranean Sea Spaghetti Salad recipe page.

On the same site you can find information on over 180 wild foods along with thousands of recipes incorporating them as ingredients on the Celtnet Wild Foods Guide pages.

For all the wild food recipes on this blog, see the wild food recipes page.