Sea lettuce

Laitue de mer

What it is

The blade is two cells thick and nothing more, which is why it dries to something like tissue paper and crisps in seconds of hot oil. It grows wherever the water is rich in nitrogen, spectacularly so in certain Breton bays, where the summer green tides are this same alga.

In the kitchen

Rinse it through several changes of water; sand hides in the folds. Raw and shredded it wants a sharp dressing against its sorrel edge, and to fry it you must dry it completely — a wet sheet spits violently at 180°C.

Goes with

Oyster Lemon Olive oil Potato Cod Shallot Butter

In season alongside

Borage Tomatillo Apple Sweetfish (ayu) Begonia petals Bell pepper

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