Laverbread

Instructions

1. Tip 250 g of fresh laver into a sink of cold water and swish it about with your hands, letting the sand and shell grit sink. Lift the weed out, drain the sink and repeat at least three more times, until no grit rattles in the bottom. Pick out any bits of shell, gravel or other seaweed.
2. Pack the drained laver into a heavy-based saucepan with 100 ml of water and 0.25 tsp of sea salt. Bring to a bare simmer over medium heat, then cover and drop the heat to the lowest setting.
3. Stew for 4 hours, stirring every 30 minutes with a wooden spoon and adding a splash of water if it looks like catching. The fronds will collapse first to a slack tangle, then to a smooth blackish-green purée that holds the mark of the spoon.
4. Uncover, beat the purée hard with the spoon to break up any remaining strands, and cook 5-10 minutes more until thick, dark and glossy with no free water in the pan. This is laverbread: you should have roughly 100 g. Spread it on a plate and leave until cool and firm, about 20 minutes.