samphire, glasswort, salicornia

i haven't slept well for the past few weeks.

this is not really unusual

for me.

at 8,

i became a master tetris player,

a result of

spending

a lot

of

quality time with my father,

who also couldn't sleep,

at two in the morning.

my freshmen year of college

was a blur of sleepless nights.

sadly,

it was because

i couldn't sleep,

and not

because of

all-night partying.

and poor larry.

i cannot tell you how

many nights

he has been forced

to deal with me:

not tired,

nowhere near closing 

my eyes,

and, in fact,

too wired

to lay still and silent.

this past

year brought with it a

new job that

tires me out so well,

for the first time in my life

i sleep easily.

but, the recent weeks

have felt

just like old times.

and while sometimes

(most of the time)

it's horrible and i wish

for a magical wand that will

make me normal,

make me fall asleep within

seconds of my head hitting

the pillow, or at the very least,

within minutes of thinking,

i'm ready for bed now,

other times, it's perfect for

menu planning.

two thursdays ago,

i bought, as i am apt to do,

a very large handful

of a vegetable i didn't

recognize.

their tag

said sea beans,

and as i grabbed a bunch,

of the slim, textured strands,

i imagined stir frying them

with soy sauce and hoisin,

water chestnuts, shiitake mushrooms

and tofu.

but then, i went home

and bit into one.

at the first moment

of the first bite,

the flavor was recognizable:

a close relative of the string bean.

a second later however,

another familiar flavor set-in:

sea water. big gulps of it.

these things are salty.
really salty -

certainly not soy sauce appropriate.

but i paid

for them and

i love a challenge and i was going to use them.

so i turned to cookbooks

and

the internet,

both of which provided

very little information.

basically they're salty,

they have many other names

(hence the title of this post)

they were used

on top chef once or twice,

they're fun as garnishes

and

they were featured in two recipes

in all of epicurious.

if i wanted to make something

with them, i would have

to come up with it myself.

at night, i alternated between

wishing for sleep and day-dreaming

up sea bean recipes -

should they be a side dish?

the main component of the meal?

are they really good in a frittata,

as one recipe online indicated?

chicken or fish? does it really matter?

finally i decided not to drive myself

anymore crazy and 

to just use them in

as a side dish.

if they were still inedible salt licks,

they could be

pushed aside.

we'd still have a piece

of cod (what was i thinking...

chicken? it had to

be fish - they're sea beans,

after all) to enjoy. 

(don't think i'm completely crazy,

there were other things on

my mind, also keeping me up:

taxes,

deciding on a new car, 

brought on by expensive repairs

on my old one,

and an impending cold,

just to name a few. but the

bag of sea beans 

just sitting in the fridge 

was certainly

hard to ignore.)

one thing that i did find helpful

in my research is that

they really should be

blanched.

i usually despise blanching.

it involves dirtying an extra

pot,

bowl

and

strainer.

in school, i did make a small

blanching turn-around -

we had to do it so often,

that setting up

a bowl of ice water

boiling a pot of water

and quickly dipping

veggies

became second nature

and i even started to

embrace the

benefit. blanching

not only par-cooks

the item, but also

locks in color, texture

and flavor to ensure that

when a vegetable is cooked

or placed on a crudites

platter, it stays pretty, 

firm and

bright.

this is the greatest set for blanching. it's a colander that locks into a bowl, so i can drain and plunge into ice water without having to fish inside the bowl of cold water to seek out the veggies (i think it was $2.99.).

with sea beans - there's an added

bonus. normally, sprinkling

salt into the blanching water

is a must, but in this case,

you dunk them in plain water

to extract

some of the salt.

resist the urge to skip

this step.

that being said, the other

thing you should resist,

is the natural inclination to season

with salt while you prepare this

dish. even with the

blanching,

they're salty enough.

the greens make an interesting base

for this shiitake-studded side.

crisp and flavorful, they add great

balance to the 

mushrooms, which when

sauteed

take on quite a rich

and meaty texture.

the lemon and almonds, which

seemed

like a natural

match,

did not disappoint.

and that evening, although,

it was not longlasting,

i slept well.

i must admit two things:

i loved this dish.

larry did not.

he picked everything else out

to eat,

but the poor salty

samphires, were left

untouched

(it's not their fault they're salty!).

i thought that by blanching them,

adding a small amount of peanut oil

and a squirt of lemon

the lot mellowed, but he

felt they were still

a bit much.

i do encourage,

you to give them a go

anyway.

but don't say i didn't warn you:

they let their presence be known,

they will not fade into the background,

they have attitude.

anything worth its salt does.

sea beans with shiitake mushrooms and toasted almonds

1/3 lb. sea beans, trimmed

1/4 cup slivered blanched almonds

1 Tbs. peanut oil, divided

1 shallot, peeled, halved and sliced

1/3 lb. shiitake mushrooms, stemmed and halved

1 clove garlic, peeled and finely chopped

1 medium lemon, juiced

get ready to blanche: fill a bowl with cold water, add ice cubes (if you have a bowl that a colandar will fit into, use that one). in medium saucepot, bring water to a boil; add sea beans and cook 45 sec. drain into colander. immediately place colander in, or dump sea beans into, a bowl of cold water. swish around until beans are completely cool; drain and dry.

meanwhile, place almonds in a small dry saucepan. turn heat to medium-low and cook 5 minutes, or until almonds are just a light golden brown, shaking the pan often; if they start to become fragrant, remove them from heat immediately. set aside.

in saucepan over medium heat, warm 1 tsp. peanut oil 45 seconds. add sliced shallots and cook 2 minutes, or until shallot are tender and translucent. add remaining 2 tsp. olive oil. add mushrooms and increase heat to medium-high. cook 5 minutes, or until mushrooms are tender. add seabeans and garlic; cook 1 minute. add lemon juice and toasted almonds; cook 1 minute more, stirring often.