Seaweed's the secret ingredient in this meat-free pâté

Nutritionist and chef Amy Longard has long loved seaweed, and says cooking with it has many benefits. 

"Seaweed is an extremely nutrient-dense food," Longard told CBC Radio's All In A Day last week.

It's a really versatile food to use. It adds that umami flavour.- Amy Longard

"In many cases, people are seeking out seaweed because it's a source of iodine [which helps] support the thyroid. So when we see conditions where your thyroid isn't working optimally, adding seaweed to the diet can often benefit you quite a bit."

When she was a kid, Longard said, her parents tried to expose her and her sister to other cultures, welcoming exchange students from around the world into their home.

"[They] would bring really interesting snacks. And most of them had seaweed ... or we were eating nori, or we were playing around with sushi," she said. 

"So that exposure really stuck with me."

This week on D is for Dinner, Longard offered up her recipe for vegan pâté using dulse, a type of seaweed. 

"It's a really versatile food to use. It adds that umami flavour," Longard said. "And you can also incorporate it into so many things — add a nice natural form of sodium so you're not adding as much salt."

Dulse, sunflower seed and walnut pâté

Ingredients:

• 1 cup walnuts
• 1½ cups cup raw sunflower seeds 
• 1 tsp. red wine vinegar
• ⅓ cup red onion
• ⅓ cup whole leaf dulse (seaweed) 
• ⅓ cup celery, minced
• ½ cup fresh parsley, chopped
• ⅓ cup lemon juice 
• 3 tbsp. freshly chopped dill, or 2 tbsp. dried dill
• salt and pepper to taste 
• water

Directions: 

1. Soak the walnuts and sunflower seeds together in warm water for at least 30 minutes.
2. Dice the red onion into very small pieces, about ¼-inch wide, and place in a small bowl.
3. Pour the red wine vinegar over the onions and set aside.
4. To prepare the dulse, quickly warm it in a cast-iron pan for about one minute, making sure to not let it burn.
5. Remove from the heat, let it cool and crush it into flakes.
6. Dice the celery to the same size as the onion and roughly chop the parsley and dill.
7. Mix those three ingredients together with the onions, lemon juice and dulse flakes in a medium-sized bowl.
8. Drain and rinse the walnuts and sunflower seeds.
9. Using a food processor or high-powered blender, blend the walnuts and sunflower seeds together until the oil starts to show on the bowl and the mixture's consistency is like nut butter. This should take about two or three minutes. If the mixture is too dry, add a bit of water and mix again.
10. Combine the walnut-and-sunflower-seed mixture with the rest of the ingredients and season with salt and pepper to taste.
11. Enjoy immediately in lettuce wraps or tortillas, on crackers, in sandwiches or as part of a salad with vegetables and a dressing of your choice.