My husband went to pick up some fresh fish from Catalina Offshore Products here in San Diego and came home with a bag of seaweed. “So, we’re having seaweed for dinner?” I asked pointedly.
He explained that he did indeed fulfill his duty of getting some fresh Monchong Fish to grill up, but that there was a man there giving away bags of Ogo seaweed, aqua-farmed right here in San Diego.
Upon further inspection, I realized this is the same red seaweed that we used to pick out of the ocean in Maui and eat as a snack. The flavor is salty with a lovely herbal sea taste and is crunchy like a mini-vegetable. It’s often served cold with sushi, but as I was preparing food for an outdoor BBQ, I had to get creative.
I bought some fingerling potatoes earlier in the day and had intended on roasting them with some olive oil. For some reason, the herbal flavor in the Ogo reminded me of rosemary. One of my pet peeves about cooking with fresh rosemary is that the bits are often rough once baked. So, I decided to use rosemary infused olive oil (no rosemary bits, but all the flavor) and the diced up fresh Ogo to sprinkle on top.
After baking for 35 minutes, the potatoes were fork-soft and ready to serve. The Ogo condensed down to a dark purple color and looked like a regular herb on the potatoes, yet it was soft and salty.
Everyone gobbled up the potatoes — even my teenage daughter who poked at it, “So this is seaweed?” Yep. “Oh, it’s good. I like it” Success!
Benefits of Ogo
Ogo is a sustainable food as it grows quickly and cleanly in an Aquafarm environment. Providing three times the amount of potassium than bananas, red ogo seaweed is a good source of trace minerals. Studies show red ogo seaweed helps increase resistance to stress and fatigue. Mostly all sea vegetables are rich in iron, several minerals, calcium, and potassium.
It’s also high in vitamin B and Iodine. As I’m always cooking with fancy natural gourmet salts, I am probably lacking Iodine in my diet. Seaweed is a great way to supplement.