Sea Grass and Lemon Butter

These photos were taken at the Inishfood Coastal Forage session as part of the Donegal Festival.

Long after our audience had gone, Enda McEvoy, Mickey McCoy, John, myself and a few equally dedicated stragglers were still on the beach cooking limpets over the Kelly Kettle, opening rock oysters and showing a marked reluctance to leave the lovely coastal environment of Inishowen and beautiful Linsfort beach.

Here is the recipe for the butter we tasted along with Thibault Peigne's profound loaf of sourdough bread. The butter was also good on the grilled limpets. (The photo above was taken by Thibault).

Seagrass is flourishing on Irish beaches right now. It's easy to spot, at the top of the tidal zone, it's bright green, looks like grass and has a long-lasting flavour.

Seagrass and Lemon Butter

250g butter
handful sea grass
tablespoon very finely diced red seaweed (dilisk, nori or Atlantic wakame)
zest of 1 lemon
juice of half a lemon

Blend.

Thanks to Alan and Brid Rooks from Linsfort Castle, and Darren Bradley for welcoming us to their beach.