Something New - Sea Spaghetti

Thanks to my lovely new friend Bea from Portomuinos I have some fabulous new foods to try and to write about. Portomuinos is a family firm, based in Spain selling all sorts of seaweed and seaweed based foods. They have recently branched out to include other sea-products in their range, including sea urchin and monkfish liver.

I decided I would start with the simplest product Bea sent me, canned Sea Spaghetti.

The Sea Spaghetti is a dark olive green and smells of the sea - it's not overpowering at all, but you would immediately know where this vegetable grew, even if you hadn't seen the label. I popped a bit straight in my mouth to try. Salty, but not too salty and not rubbery at all, which was something I'd been fearing.

I started off with an easy recipe, as there was just me to feed that night, and used half a can to mix in with scrambled eggs. Wonderful!

The following evening I needed to try it with something a little more adventurous, and decided on a Chinese-style dish - Pork with Cashew Nuts & Seaweed:

Serves 2

• 2 pork loin steaks, cut into strips
• 1-2 tbsp clear honey
• 1-2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• Handful of cashew nuts
• Sea spaghetti, drained

1. Mix the honey, soy sauce and lemon juice together and add the pork strips. Stir to coat and leave for at least 5 minutes
2. Heat a little oil in a frying pan or wok and add the pork and marinade. Cook for about 4-5 minutes until the pork is almost cooked. Stir regularly to turn the pork
3. Add the sea spaghetti and cashew nuts and cook for another couple of minutes, until the pork is cooked, then serve

We ate ours with new potatoes and salad, but it would be great with rice too.

I thought the sea spaghetti cooked really well, it didn't go tough at all. Stephen's verdict on sea spaghetti was "delicious" which is very, very high praise, coming from a man who doesn't trust vegetables, especially green ones!

I met the Portomuinos team at the Good Food Show in Birmingham, so watch out for them at food festivals and for their products in your local deli.