Sea Palm's, and a vintage recipe, Egyptian Pillau

There really is a plant called Sea Palm, it's a seaweed which grows on the west coast and is then harvested and used in cooking.    Of course I didn't know about it when I named my first blog, Sea Palm Treasures.  I just thought, gee I live by the Sea and I like Palm Trees, and feel as if there is treasure here, between the sea and the palms, the state forests, the ocean, the wildlife, the activities you can do here, there is no better place.  It is a treasure type place.  So I shared some pictures of my own concept of treasures, then I decided to share a recipe, well, it kinda got to be an addiction.  For years I've loved to cook, entertain, try out new foods, recipes, methods of preparation, and have always been happy to share my recipes with others.   So, gradually Sea Palm Treasures was taken over by food.   And that's when I had an AHA!!!!  moment, I could do both, showcase the natural beauty of the area I live in, and share my love of food and entertaining, but I could do it in two different blogs.   So Sid's Sea Palm Cooking was born.


Really there's no reason for this post other than to explain the progress and path I followed.  And as with most paths, there are off shoots, and other paths that intersect and new places to explore and share and ...


And that being said, I'm going to share an old recipe, this one comes from my Civil War Recipes book.

Egyptian Pillau

Put a good sized fowl into a pan with some chopped ham,
half a pound of sausage meat,
some chopped onion,
one-quarter of a pound of butter,
sweetherbs tied in a bunch,
a few dried mushrooms, chopped fine,
pepper and salt.
Stew the fowl gently until quite tender, adding a little water now and then to prevent it from becoming dry. Pick all the meat from the bones, and cut it into very small pieces, removing the skin.
Boil dryly one pound of rice, mix it well with the fowl and gravy, and season it to taste. This must all be finished half an hour before dinner is ready, so that it may be put at the side of the fire and served almost dry; but care must be taken to place it at the side, not on the fire, after it is cooked. This dish is excellent with turkey.

I googled Pillau and as best as I can figure out, it's got something to do with a dish made with rice.   At any rate, I thought this might be kinda fun to make sometime, for some reason I want to add tomatoes to this and make it into a kind of Jambalaya.