Alriiiiigh’ me lovers?
(That was my terrible impression of a Yorkshire accent, I’m sorry for any offence caused)
Anywho, the last few weeks have been action packed in the gardens ( y’know, in gardeners terms), our seeds have germinated (well, partly) and the pots are filling with little green seedlings. We got our early potatoes into the ground, made a tree nursery and planted some fruit bushes in our forest garden (forest gardens are great, and I’m currently planning one for a local school, remind me to talk about them on another post).
Our Comfry starting to grow again. Comfry is a super plant, we use it to make a liquid feed for the plants.
Three different potatoes; Axona, Nicola and Orla
Orla potatoes, an Irish heritage variety
Mulching the garlic beds with our compost
Planting our grafted fruit trees into our tree nursery bed
Our salad mix, one of the first of the seeds to germinate
So, the gardens are a hive of activity, which is great, hurray, but there is nothing for me to eat.
This time of the gardeners year, the few months between the last winter carrot being gobbled up and the first lettuce being plucked from the ground is called, quite fittingly, The Hungry Gap, but it also coincides with first of the wild spring greens arriving, tender leaves of nettles, sea spinach, wild garlic, dandelions, all tasty and all at their best.
I am very much an amateur forager (i.e. I’ve read about it more then I have done it) but last year, since hunting down some Chanterelles for breakfast, I’ve been hooked.
The other day, when I was out on the beach with family, I turned into an idiot with happiness after I stumbled across a bunch of sea spinach, my family where less then amused as they had to wait while I stuffed as much as I could into my pockets.
Sea Spinach growing on the beach
Sea Spinach, I can now verify from first hand experience, is amazing. It’s fleshy bright green leaves tastes just like spinach with a mild saltiness from the sea and hold their shape far better. It grows in bunches on rocky ground near the sea and is very prolific. Like all thing foraged, make sure you can positively identify it ( here’s a guide) before picking and don’t take too much so the plant can keep growing.
Sea Spinach
Once you get it home you can use it in replacement for regular spinach; put it in an omelette, soufflé, quiche (spinach and eggs are best friends) or throw it in a stir-fry or curry, whatever you want.
I kept it simple and made an omelette so I could find out what it tasted like, which, as aforementioned, is great. The sweetness of the caramelised onion and savoury-ness of the parmesan cheese goes well with the iron tang of the spinach.
All the ingredients for the omelette
Oh, and if you can’t find/can’t be bother to look for sea spinach then replace with regular spinach and omit the first step of the recipe.
Enjoy!
Sea Spinach, Onion and Parmesan Omelette
(I ate this omelette on my own but I guess you could share between two? *insert doubtful tone*)
Sea Spinach, Onion and Parmesan Cheese Omelette
Wash spinach and blanch in boiling water for 3-4 mins until tender and a vibrant green.
Put into bowl of cold water until cooled, remove, squeeze the excess water and chop roughly, set aside
Sauté half a chopped onion in oil until caramelised and soft, remove and put aside
Beat 3 eggs in bowl and season with pepper
Put the frying pan back up to highest heat, add a glug of oil and a knob of butter
When the butter starts foaming add the egg and let it settle for about 20 seconds
Push the sides into the middle with a spoon allowing the excess egg to run to the side (check out Delia’s guide here, she explains it far better then me)
Just before the egg is set add the chopped onion, spinach and a small handful of parmesan cheese.
Turn off the heat and flip the omelette in half
Eat straight away.
The Garden Glutton 