Kicking It Up A Notch: Our Kelp Video & Uganik Spring Pizza

As we’ve shared in previous posts, our relationship with the ocean has become more meaningful and complex since becoming involved in farming wild kelp. But why keep writing about it when we’re supposed to be talking about our wild salmon on this website?

Well, the interconnectedness of all things in our oceans probably can’t be understated, and we feel that this ocean-regenerating activity of ours does indeed, perhaps indirectly, influence the habitat of salmon. In celebration of this powerful oceanic life-force, we recently made a two-minute video for the first ever Alaska Shellfish and Seaweed festival.

If you’re interested in more of the festival’s offerings, from scientific talks to farm tours to oyster & wine pairing, it’s all available on the Alaska Shellfish And Seaweed Grower’s Project. During the four days of the festival we enjoyed intentionally eating kelp in a variety of ways. Day one was lightly fried eggs topped with dried kombu that we made from our sugar kelp and fresh basil leaves. The next day we did the classic sushi dinner complete with miso soup with the perfect square of kelp, seaweed salad and of course nori-wrapped sushi rolls. Our penultimate meal was a local kelp salsa served on seared ahi with rice. For the final day, inspired by spring in Uganik, we created an unforgettable (but definitely replicable!) pizza.

Uganik Pizza: Kelp & basil pesto, fresh morels, and smoked coho.

First we made a special pesto out of our kelp and the robust basil plant that has kept us company all winter. We harvested fresh, crisp kelp, lightly blanched it (which turns it bright green), then pureed it into a paste. Once we had that, we threw the following items into our high speed blender and whirred up a batch:

1/8 to ¼ cup kelp puree

½ cup or to taste grated asiago cheese

One very large handful fresh basil

½ cup toasted pine nuts

Juice of ½ a lemon

2 cloves garlic

1 generous glug of olive oil

The kelp added a subtle but wonderful smoothness and depth of flavor (not “kelpy”, just a subtle umami), plus it has all these nutrients we love!

Freezing the pesto allowed us the flexibility to wait for just the right moment to wander the greening hillsides in search of morels, one of our favorite ways to welcome spring into our lives. There’s really nothing like slowly strolling the landscape, spring birdsongs in our ears and warm sunshine relaxing our bodies, finding hidden treasures. When our foraging was complete, it was pizza time.

After spreading kelp pesto on our crust and topping it with a little cheese, then came our Uganik treasures: sautéed morels and chopped/flaked smoked coho salmon. We wish we could share this for “Friday Pizza Day” with all! Happy Spring indeed.