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Shellfish Seaweed Pudding
Shellfish Seaweed Pudding is a reconstructed Ancient recipe for a dish of cooked shellfish mixed with seaweed, herbs and oatmeal bound with eggs that's tied in a cloth and cooked in a fish stew. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Ancient version of: Shellfish Seaweed Pudding.
prep time
20 minutes
cook time
70 minutes
Total Time:
90 minutes
Serves:
4
Rating: 
Tags : Wild FoodBritish Recipes
Seafood in general and shellfish in particular have been an important human food resource for millennia. The huge midden heaps of discarded shells shows that our early ancestors used to use the same beach season after season in search of shellfish. Various seaweed-based puddings are common in traditional Irish cookery and oats have been a Celtic staple for millennia. This recipe brings all these ingredients together to re-create an Iron Age accompaniment that can be cooked in a fish stew (one pot cooking was the only Iron Age way to stew things).
Ingredients:
5 or 6
sea lettuce leaves, roughly chopped
1 generous handful of
sea beet leaves, roughly chopped (or substitute spinach)
150g oatmeal
300g limpets or
mussels
6 fish fillets, sliced
sea salt, to taste
1 egg
Method:
Combine the sea lettuce, sea beet and oatmeal in a bowl then add the egg and stir to combine. Now add just enough water to bring the mixture together as a stiff dough.
Tip the dough into the centre of a muslin cloth which then needs to be drawn-up tightly around the pudding before being securely tied-off at the top. Leave enough string free so that it's easy to pull the pudding out of the pot in which it's cooked.
Meanwhile, add the shellfish to a pan along with 200ml water and a little salt. Bring to a simmer, cover and cook for about 8 minutes, or until the shellfish are cooked through. Strain the liquid into a bowl and remove the meat from the shells (for a richer flavour you could use beer rather than water.
Add the strained liquid and shellfish meat to a pan along with 1l water. Bring to a simmer then add the pudding. Cover and cook for 40 minutes then add 200ml more water along with the fish fillets. Season with salt to taste, return to a simmer and cook for a further 20 minutes, or until the fish is tender.
Remove the pudding from the pan and unwrap. Allow to cool slightly then slice and place on the side of a bowl. In the meantime bring the stew to a boil and cook, uncovered, to reduce. Ladle some of the fish and shellfish meat into the bowl (with some of the stock) and serve.
