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| Scallops |
Scallops and samphire...2 things that don’t feature
on the average teenage vegetarians weekly meal planner, however over the last
few weeks, when we were in the Outer Hebrides, we came to eat rather a lot of
them.
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| Deserted windswept beach on North Uist, Outer Hebrides. |
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| Lobster pots |
In fact I can’t believe that this time 2 weeks ago
we were picking samphire on a windswept Hebridian beach and diving ..Well
snorkling in my case ..for scallops.
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| Samphire |
Before the memory is swamped by routine I thought I would share it with you in case you have a chance to escape
for a seaside walk this weekend and gather your own samphire or even scallops!
I have to confess I didn’t actually get many
scallops...(a few technical hitches with my duck dives!!), unlike Richard, but
I did haul lobster pots - see Richard Bramble’s blog
and fab photo’s of the boys braving the waves to check
the lobster pots on my birthday!!
With Richard’s local knowledge and years of practice
we dropped pots and caught several lobsters as well as collecting great hauls
of scallops from different locations.
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| Lobsters on the beach |
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| Fresh lobster straight from the pot |
The lobsters were SO beautiful we were all inspired to paint or photograph them, and the velvet crabs, that had also climbed into the pots.
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| Beautiful Lobster tail. |
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| Velvet crab |
Teen V wasn’t too impressed by the whole catching
and cooking of the lobsters, feeling it was rather barbaric.
It brought to the
fore the whole reason why she became vegetarian in the first place, she enjoyed
the samphire more.
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| Picking samphire in North Uist |
For the rest of us it was fantastic to catch
something and eat it.
Luckily on
the day we had our big Pollock haul Teen V was elsewhere as I’m not sure she
would have appreciated the Pollock slithering in the bottom of the boat
around her feet..despite the delicious Pollock curry we had later that evening.
That was the day we saw the sea eagles close up,
which was spectacular.
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| Fresh Pollock |
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| Richard Bramble and H with the prize pollock. |
I don't in principal like to put pictures of people on this blog. I prefer the food to be the main feature. However I do have to make an exception here, just to show off the huge Pollock because I'm sure no one would have believed me if I had started to explain just how big it was!!!
So, if you are looking for a starter, side dish or
healthy snack and happen upon some samphire it is well worth the effort-
minimal!- of picking some.
It is delicious lightly fried in a little olive oil
and butter for about 4 minutes. It has been called sea asparagus and I can see
why.
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| Samphire in butter and olive oil. |
The other night I threw handfuls into the spinach
sauce I was making for pasta and was surprised how well it went. I also added it raw, to the mixed green salad and again it worked really well.
It is best picked in July and August so get hunting before the season is over!
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| Returning from a day out in North Uist |
The next time I tuck into a scallop, a sprig of samphire or a fish curry I will think of the windswept landscape of North Uist.
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