Heart of snakes

In Ovid's Roman version of the Greek myth, Medusa was a beautiful maiden who was raped by the sea god Poseidon in the temple of Athena. Outraged, Athena punished Medusa for her beauty by transforming her into a serpent-haired gorgon whose stony gaze could petrify beholders. (An early example of the woman being blamed for her own abuse.)

If Medusa's traumatised heart turned reptilian too it might have looked something like this cluster of snakelocks sea anemone, Anemonia viridis, which I found at the small bay where we collected limpets this afternoon. To my surprise these anemones seem to have colonized the rock pools here for the first time this year.

It's not the easiest thing to photograph because of the reflection on the surface of the water but this specimen ( there may be two or three here) was just emerging from the ebbing tide. The purple-tipped green fronds (tinted by the algae that co-habit within) cling lightly but not unpleasantly when you brush them with your fingers.

I wasn't aware until today that the snakelocks is eaten in SW Spain around the port of Cadiz where it is called ortiguillas de mar, 'little sea nettles'. Once harvested as a survival food during the Civil War it's now a gourmet speciality. A company that markets tinned snakelocks describes one traditional recipe for the anemone as follows: (I quote)

It offers a flowing texture inside and a crispy exterior, covered in a light coating, flooding the mouth with deep sea flavor. Its wave-breaking and evanescent charm of texture endorse its compliments. Positioned on a fluffy bed of bread crumbs soaked in tasty clam juice, which turns into a creamy sauce, sprinkled with drops of chive oil, surrounds the core of the plate. Emitting a scent of lime and garnished with vegetables, flowers and crisp rocket, completes a very original creation that pays tribute to frying and 'French toast'. A true ingenios gastronomic wonder.