Seaweed bread bruschetta
An impressive yet simple-to-make lunch or first course, seaweed bread bruschetta is topped with laverbread, cockles and crispy bacon and served with a crab and charred chicory salad.
Ingredients
For the topping
- 250g/9oz ready-prepared laverbread (available in cans)
- 50²µ/1¾´Ç³ú oatmeal
- freshly ground white pepper, to taste
- 25g/1oz butter
- 1 leek, finely chopped
- 250g/9oz cooked picked cockles
- beer vinegar, to taste (optional)
- 50²µ/1¾´Ç³ú bacon fat
- 8 rashers smoked streaky bacon, cooked until crisp
For the dressing
- 6 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tbsp beer vinegar
- 2 tbsp chopped fresh flatleaf parsley
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
- 1 tsp dried basil
- pinch chilli flakes
- pinch dried oregano
For the crab and charred chicory salad
- 4 heads chicory, quartered lengthways
- olive oil, for brushing
- 1 dressed crab
- 12 cherry tomatoes, chopped
- ¼ cucumber, peeled, cored and diced
- pinch piment d’Espelette
- 1 Little Gem lettuce, leaves separated
For the bruschetta
- 1 loaf seaweed bread
- olive oil, for drizzling
Method
For the topping, mix together the laverbread and oatmeal. Season with white pepper and set aside for 20 minutes.
Melt the butter in a frying pan, add the leek and fry gently until softened. Add the cockles and cook for a few minutes until heated through. Season to taste with pepper and vinegar; set aside.
Heat the bacon fat over a medium heat then fry the laverbread mixture until slightly crisp. Set aside.
For the dressing, whisk all of the ingredients together and set aside.
For the salad, brush the chicory with olive oil, season, then cook on a ridged griddle pan over a high heat until nicely charred. Set aside. Gently mix together the crab, tomatoes and cucumber with some of the dressing. Place in the middle of a plate and sprinkle with the piment d’Espelette. Arrange the Little Gem leaves and the charred chicory around the crab salad and sprinkle over a little of the remaining dressing, to taste.
Cut nice long slices of the seaweed bread, toast on a ridged griddle pan and drizzle with olive oil. Top the warm toast with the laverbread mixture, then the cockles and leeks, and finally the crispy bacon. Serve alongside the salad.