I like to experiment. It's not that I don't repeat tried and tested recipes that I love. I do, but sometimes I like to experiment and try something a little bit different.

I have a couple of recipes for seaweed hummus and seaweed dips (including Broad Bean and Sea Greens Dip and Kelp Hummus which you'll find in my Seaweed Foraging book) that I've made again and again. Though this particular Saturday afternoon I fancied doing something different.

I have a shelf in my kitchen dedicated to seaweeds, call it my seaweed shelf, if you like. I perused the different varieties of dried seaweeds I had and decided to use a combination of two seaweeds. In my freezer I had lots of frozen peas, I love frozen peas, and decided to combine the peas and seaweeds, with lemon and garlic, of course.

(Bowl of dried gutweed - Ulva intestinalis - sometimes known as sea greens)

Gut weed, also known as Sea Greens (Ulva intestinalis) was my obvious choice with peas, though I'd also have some great successes adding Pepper dulse (Osmundea  pinnatifida or Laurencia pinnatifida) to many dips as it adds a spicy kick to recipes and accentuates flavours already there. So my choice was made; gutweed for its wonderful herby flavour and lots of nutrition including B12 and protein, and pepper dulse for the peppery umami flavour.

Pepper dulse growing off the rocks

Dips are so easy to make, just whizz them up and serve. Really.

Once blended, I sealed the Pea and Seaweed dip in a couple of tupper-ware containers and took it to the beach where I met a group of eager and budding foragers for a Seaweed Foraging Course. Towards the end of the afternoon we sat on the rocks and ate. Two tubs of this more-ish dip went rather fast, and was enjoyed by the adults and kids on tasty seaweed bread.

Pea and Seaweed Dip

Ingredients

• 425  g frozen peas (defrosted)
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 5 g dried and ground  gutweed seaweed (Ulva intestinalis)
• 5 g dried and  ground pepper dulse seaweed (Osmundea pinnatifida or Laurencia pinnatifida)
• Juice from 1 and 1/2 lemons
• 6 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• Sea salt and pepper to taste

Blend all the ingredients and serve. Keeps well for a few days and perfect on the beach with fresh bread.

Related posts:

Green Olive and Seaweed Tapanade How and When to Harvest Green Seaweeds Look what the storm threw up! Seaweed and Pumpkin Seed Crispbreads