Wild Oysters & Marsh Samphire

So, if you consider the "R in the month" proverb about foraging for shell fish, then the end of April (...and first couple of weeks of May if it's been cold...well....rules are there to be broken) is the only time of the year where you can still eat the foraged oysters before the water gets too warm and they begin breeding, and when the samphire is fresh and succulent.






 
Down here in Kent, both are abundant....so enjoy this bounty that would cost you a packet at Noma.




 Tip 1:-  make sure you follow the tide out, and know when low Tide is.  the biggest Oysters are where they are always in the water - i.e. at or towards the low tide mark.

Tip 2: take a screwdriver or crow bar, as they attach themselves to the rocks with a vice like grip















Tip 3:- Marsh Samphire grows in the muddy area of the high tide line, keeping it's feet in the water, and getting a fresh drenching from the high tide twice daily.

take your wellies, and a pair of scissors - make sure you snip off the tender stems, but don't uproot the little stems, their roots are short and easily disturbed.










And here's the results.

 Tip 4:-  When shucking oysters, make sure your holding hand is in a thick towel, or paid of oven gloves.  using a shucking knife or screw-driver, carefully insert into the apex hinge of the shell to break the hinge, don't try and prize it open from the mouth end...it won't work, the shell will crack, and you'll probably stab yourself!

Recipe:-
Wrap the oysters in little strips of parma ham, sautee them in garlic butter, then grill briefly to crispen the ham

simmer the samphire in rolling boiling salted water for 2 minutes, then dress with pepper, olive oil, and lemon juice

serve with fresh crusty bread and the pan juices from the oysters....and nice glass of cider or white wine.  Tj@TheNook

The first Kentish Samphire of summer

An inch or two high, but already bursting with juicy savoury flavours of the sea.
 
All along the Kent coast wherever the chalk cliffs give way to gentle marshy river mouths you'll find 'Glasswort' stood defiant as Canute along the high tide line.

Having just enjoyed (at a price) a crab and samphire salad in a london restaurant this weekend, this is one wild vegetable where the cost of buying vs the reward for wet feet and a muddy boots is significantly in favour of the forager.

probably leave it another week until it's 4-6 inches high, so can carefully snip off useful lengths without uprooting it, as it's shallow rooted in the mud, and all too easily comes away if you try and pull at it.

Looking forward to seafood salad, and also including them in little tarts/quiches to add colour and seasoning.

Of Sailing Ships and Sealing Wax, of Cabbages, and Kings.....

From the Western Heights above Dover, via the 12th Century Knights Templar church, the North Downs Way crosses under the A2, climbs high over Shakespeare's Cliff, weaving past the crumbling remains of the Napoleonic and 20th Century gun batterys towards Capel le Ferne.

Along this cliff top path  is a wide array of foragables, with the added bonus of sweeping views out to the sailing boats in the straits of Dover, East and West over the cross channel ferry harbours of Dover and Folkestone, and vertically down to Samphire Hoe.

Patches of Alexanders litter the whole path and grassland area, but the best pickings are the two of three varieties of wild cabbages/kales growing tall and proudly along the cliff edge, and across the grassy banks, which are great to pick the new succulent leaves like homegrown kales, for stir-fries, or maybe even finely shredded for 'slaws, added to soups and casseroles, or simply steamed with a splash of balsamic.

For later in the season, the hawthorns, sloes, and abundant gorse flowers ready for late summer brewing lean up the slopes away from the bracing sea breeze.

the view from Shakespeare's Cliff back across to the Port of Dover

Plenty of big wild kale/cabbage, and at this time
of year, fresh, succulent new leaves for
stir fries and soups.

several different varieties of the
wild kales, alongside the freshly
sprouted alexanders.

the perpetually flowering gorse
ready for a spot of gorse fizz
brewing later in the summer

"Gone Fishing"....well...Monday anyway.

After returning from a visit to the family in Cumbria with my trusty old child-hood fishing rod, shiny new reel,, and some of Dad's best two hook traces...it's finally time to try it out on Monday in the New Year.

Going to head out between Faversham and Whitstable on the search for big juicy flatties.

photo's, results, and recipes to follow........or recommendations for a decent Chip shop on the way home if the fish don't bite!


Off for a walk along the coast, west of Faversham tomorrow - looking for likely spots for next years crop of marsh samphire.

Tj@TheNook