On Fire For Samfire

Samphire is an edible coastal plant, making it a lovely addition to fish dishes.  They like to grow in salt sprayed, rocky, or marshy areas.  The marshy variety is the the more common type available.  It is also referred to as sea asparagus, as it can be prepared like asparagus and slathered with butter for a great side dish.  Other names it can go by are sampha, sea pickle (it is nice pickled, by the way...), glasswort, or sampkin.  It is said to be quite easy to grow, even away from the sea.

Samphire is best in July and August.

It tastes best raw or steamed. This had me thinking that the crunchy texture of it raw and the salty taste would be good for a chicken salad.  Enter Coronation Chicken Baguettes! Here is my version of the well known dish:

For colour I used two kinds of grapes....About a cup's worth.

Slice in halves.

                                      

Chop up some raw samphire about 1/2 a cup.

2 cups shredded chicken, 2 gherkins, a tsp. mustard, 1/2 an onion small diced, 1/3 c. mayo, and curry powder to taste (I used 2 tbsps.)

Gently fold together.

Fill a baguette with some of the chicken salad and butter crunch lettuce.

********************************************************************************