Lapas

Ingredients

Limpets

• 1 kglimpets in their shells

Butter

• 150 gbutter, softened
• 6 clovesgarlic, crushed
• 1large handful parsley, chopped
• juice of 1 lemon
• 1small chilli, minced
• black pepper
• salt

To serve

• lemon wedges
• bread
• grogue or beer

Directions

1. Take only what you will eat, take the larger ones, leave the small, and check local rules on season and permits before you prise anything off a rock. Never collect shellfish from water near outfalls, harbours or after heavy rain, and check for local algal bloom or biotoxin closures, which are announced precisely because filter-feeding shellfish concentrate toxins.
2. Rinse them properly.
3. Mash the butter with the garlic, parsley, lemon, chilli, salt and pepper.
4. Set the limpets on a grill over hot coals, or in a very hot dry pan, shell side down and flesh facing up.
5. Grill them for 2 to 3 minutes, until the flesh loosens and releases from the shell.
6. Drop a knob of the garlic butter onto each and cook for a further 1 to 2 minutes only. Two minutes at most once the butter goes on.
7. Serve them straight from the grill in their shells, with lemon, bread for the butter, and grogue.

Technique

• They taste strongly of the sea, closer to a chewy clam than to a scallop, and they are not delicate.
• The dark end of the flesh is the digestive tract and is usually eaten along with everything else.
• Overcooking is the only real way to ruin them.

Substitutions

• Mussels or clams, cooked the same way, if limpets are unavailable.
• Olive oil with garlic in place of butter.

Variations

• With a splash of white wine or grogue in each shell.
• Chopped and cooked into rice, as arroz de lapas.
• The Azorean lapas grelhadas, which is nearly identical.

History

Gathered at low tide from the islands’ volcanic shoreline, limpets are a bar snack eaten with grogue along the coast.

Frequently asked questions

What is Lapas?

Lapas is a snack from Cape Verde: limpets prised from the rocks and grilled in their shells with garlic butter. Gathered at low tide from the islands’ volcanic shoreline, limpets are a bar snack eaten with grogue along the coast.

How long does Lapas take to make?

Lapas takes 20 min of preparation and 10 min of cooking. The recipe makes 4 servings. It is rated easy to make.

What can I substitute in Lapas?

Yes, within limits. Mussels or clams, cooked the same way, if limpets are unavailable. Olive oil with garlic in place of butter.

What is the most important thing to get right in Lapas?

Take only what you will eat, take the larger ones, leave the small, and check local rules on season and permits before you prise anything off a rock. Never collect shellfish from water near outfalls, harbours or after heavy rain, and check for local algal bloom or biotoxin closures, which are announced precisely because filter-feeding shellfish concentrate toxins.