Getting closer and closer to my 29th birthday luckily i can announce that there is not much “food stuff” left untried by myself. Of course still have one at least for the rest of the days in my life – this reason pushing me further and further especially with my traveling plans… Mostly u see unkonwn things in outside journeys anyway….

But today i did find something pretty interesting just in my local fishmonger… and i can bet that u have never ever heard of it…  even if u did…. probebly never tried… my boyfriend is spanish (and as far as i informed myself this ‘thingy’ is cultivated only in Spain and Portugal…) and he had the same surpise (and smile to look at them) like me.

This is the BARNACLE… yeah yeah yeah – read the wikipedia if u want more information abot them – its basically a little hermaphroditic sea creature related to crabs and lobsters. The young fellas still swimming in the sea, when they reach adolescent will be attached to hard substrate in shallow water. Around 1220 barnacle species are currently known – and i found probably the only one which is a real delicacy in this region: the goose barnacles.

This tiny funny looking creature got the name of the bird barnacle goose – my first guess was that cause they just look like chicken feet with make up on… hehehe… the official reason is that the bird has originared exactly from the same place where the sea barnacle (Arctic).

And so…. how are they???

“The goose barnacle has to be one of the most beautiful foods on the planet. The bright enamelled head with its ruby lips sits atop a snakeskin sleeve which pulls away to reveal a glossy, lucent finger of flesh, marbled and

grey at the neck, bright orange at the tip. They’re the punks of the crustacean family. They thrive in violent waters, in their leathery jackets and studded collars, their heads a shock of colour.”

Sooooo… a couple of rules how to prepair. First of all u can eat raw if u want. Otherwise u need to boil them – best if u using their natural seawater for this (obviously u can get tap water with seasalt — make sure u are not going to add any more salt during the proccess). Wait till the water boiling, add the barnacles and wait till the water starts to boil again. Thats it – the body becomimg firm and ready. Without any fuss: peel the hard skin and bite off the little “warm-like” thingy.

If u up for some fuss make it a bit more special. I made two different sauce to serve in it, once a basic mariniere which goes well with all the ‘seastuff’ cause of the acidity (garlic, white wine, bay leaf, parsley etc etc) and served with artichoke . On the other hand i made a sweeter creamy sauce with sherry, sweet peppers and shallots…

The time has arrived to give a MASSIVE BIG THANK U TO MY FAVOURITE WORKMATES: VANESSA Y ALESSANDRO who never ever heard of this dinosaurus feet but dared to try for my experiment (and for my sake)… :) Thanks a lot Guys! xxx

Sooooo…. how is it in real???

Ok… tell u honestly. It does taste like sea. However its relalive to crabs&lobsters but really similar to a razor clam. Same flavor and same gummy texture. I do say its nice – but would never say ” foie gras de mar “… I see myself making and enjoying a tapas of it – but sick of the idea to eat a big bowl of it.

The real problem can be the price – it was not extremly expensive (9euro a kilo) when i bought but imagine u buy 90% of skin and rocks with 10% of edible part. After all – everyone should try who loves seafood at least once in a life. And dont forget: always get the ones which nails are ended up in ruby red (finest quality).

Enjoy!