Rock samphire hash

“I’m addicted to samphire, the marshland plant that started it all for me,” says Richard Mabey. “A summer doesn’t go by without me having a big bowl of samphire, and I still think it’s the most exciting and pleasurable plant both to gather and eat.

“The stuff you get in restaurants is quite often grown now in parts of Israel and even in France, where they have worked out ways of growing it in tanks with a controlled saline substrate. However, the cultivated stuff isn’t a patch on the wild, which has a real sense of oceanic tanginess.

“This curious recipe dates from the mid-17th Century. This sauce was used as a garnish for meat, and the whole dish dressed with fresh samphire leaves and bright red barberries.”

You’ll need:

● 100g (4oz) samphire, chopped

● 1 handful diced pickled cucumber and capers

● 500ml (1pt) stock

● 2 tbs wine vinegar

● 1 lemon

● Slivers of butter

● 1 egg yolk

● Pepper and nutmeg, to taste

Method:

1. Mix the chopped samphire with the pickled cucumbers and capers.

2. Mix the stock with the wine vinegar, the juice and grated peel of the lemon, and pepper and nutmeg. Bring to the boil and then add the samphire. Simmer for half an hour.

3. Take off the boil and gradually add slivers of butter and the egg yolk, stirring constantly until the mixture thickens.