Slideshow

Slide Show: Sea Beans

July 11, 2013

Sea foraging gourmands on their way to collect sea beans. From right to left: Justin Wills (chef at Restaurant Beck), Ben Jacobsen (owner of Jacobsen Salt), Gregory Gourdet (chef at Departure), and Thomas Van Gasse (sous chef at Restaurant Beck)

Ben Jacobsen wades through a tide pool near Depoe Bay in search of fresh sea beans.

Sea bean foraging is best accomplished with scissors, a bucket, and a pair of sturdy rubber boots.

The day's haul: a sack of cactus-like beans popping with ocean brine.

Lunchtime at Restaurant Beck, overlooking the stormy, secluded Whale Cove in Depoe Bay

Chef Justin Wills builds a salad of prosciutto and arugula

Chef Gregory Gourdet adds the finishing touches to a salad of olive oil-poached Oregon tuna, sea beans, and pickled honshimeji mushrooms.

A ladleful of Thai yellow curry with pickled mustard greens, slow-poached chicken and chile oil.

Roasted sweet potatoes with ginger, garlic, and chiles.

We tagged along with Justin Wills (chef at Restaurant Beck), Gregory Gourdet (chef at Departure), and Ben Jacobsen (owner of Jacobsen Salt) for an afternoon of foraging edible treasures—and transforming them into elegant dishes—on the Oregon coast.

Download the Shopping List [PDF] for Justin Wills' recipe, featured in the August issue of Portland Monthly (on newsstands July 19)!

Ben Jacobsen, Savor, Gregory Gourdet

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Slide Show: Sea Beans

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