Post #103 ~ Mussels with Tomatoes, Fennel and Caramelized Shallots

As you might have noticed, it's been a while since my last post.  Actually, it was a while since the post before that one, too.  In truth, this final semester has been a really busy one for me (as well it should be, seeing as it's my last!).  In the past four months, I've conducted a study, assisted in a study, compiled date from my own study, analyzed said data and written a dissertation.  I'm defending May 2 and walking May 11.  I can't believe how quickly it's all gone!

So, in sum, I've still been cooking, but not blogging about it quite as much.  Tonight I really felt like returning to basics and cooking a favorite meal (but with a twist) and writing a post.  For those of you who know my blog, you realize that this means a post about insalate caprese, ratatouille or mussels, and hopefully by now you know the theme of tonight's dinner.

I was researching some different ways to make mussels, and happened upon an ingredient I had never before considered: Fennel.  I don't have a ton of familiarity with fennel, outside of the rogue seed that appears on a slice of pepperoni pizza, or the anise-flavored cookies I binge on at least once every other Christmas.

But I had seen and heard great things from my favorite chefs on my favorite cooking shows, so I decided it was high time I dallied with this flavorful bulb.  So here's what you'll need for tonight's meal:

~ Mussels (between 15 mussels - about 2/3 pound - and one pound, depending on your appetite)
~ 1 shallot (sweeter than onion, IMO)
~ 2 cloves garlic, crushed
~ 3 roma tomatoes
~ 1 bulb fennel (although I only used about 1/3 of it)
~ Fresh parsley (although many other herbs would have worked well)
~ Dry white wine
~ Coarse-ground sea salt
~ EVOO
~ Baguette

I started some EVOO smoking in a pan, and tossed in the sliced shallot to caramelize, tossing it once as I sliced everything else.  Next, I sliced the fennel.  Once knife slice told me I was making a good decision, as a spicy, familiar-yet-new aroma filled the air.  Into the pan it went, and the aromas only got better as it joined the sweet, savory scent of the caramelized shallot.  Things were heating up rather quickly, so I added some white wine.  There was lots of steam, so I stepped back and added more gradually, eventually equalling about a cup.  Next went the romas, coarsely chopped.  I added some parsley at this point, as well as some salt.  I turned up the heat and let them really cook.  I crushed in two cloves of garlic and added more parsley, and savored the aromas.  After rinsing the mussels, I slid them into the pan and covered the whole deal.  I let it simmer for 4 minutes, my usual time for cooking mussels.

In the mean time, I did useful things like put dishes in the sink, ingredients back in the fridge, sliced the bread and poured and sampled the wine.  All was well in the world.  After 4 minutes, I put the mussels into a bowl and grabbed the plate with the bread.  I was halfway into the livingroom when I swear I could hear Mireille Guiliano (see #17) yelling at me all the way from France.  So I set myself down at my kitchen table and really enjoyed the meal.  I mean, as I've said before, this is a meal for which you should eschew napkins in favor of a towel.  Hands and bread are the utensils here, with a fork at the ready as a last resort (or to avoid burned fingers).  The resulting broth was tremendously flavorful, and there was plenty of it and the other ingredients to compliment the mussels.

The fennel was amazing.  It kept a crunchiness to it, but was cooked to a satisfying done-ness.  It added an intensely spicy (as in aromatic, rather than "hot") dimension to the meal and complemented the bright, biteyness of the parsley and the acidic flavor of the romas beautifully.  The wine I chose for cooking and drinking was a Romanian Pinot Grigio by Dreambird.  It was citrussy with a nice balance of mineral.  It complemented this seafood dish like a fresh squeeze of lemon compliments a fillet of haddock.

All in all, an immensely satisfying meal.

Yours in the love of good food and wine,
AL


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The blogger is not an experienced chef. She takes no responsibility for the quality of the meals prepared while following her advice. Use your own judgment regarding cooking times and proper food handling.

Ninety-fifth Post ~ Prep Ahead Mussels with White Wine, Garlic, Herbs & Tomato

After I get done lecturing, I feel emotionally, mentally and physically exhausted, in a really rewarding kind of way.  Typically, I do call-ahead take-out from Panera, where I can grab my healthy, foodie meal to go, drive back to my apartment, and collapse in front of my TV to dine on panini, salad and a nice glass of wine.

But I'm trying to think outside the lunchbox for some easy alternatives.

Enter mussels.

You all know my love affair with these mollusks - easy, inexpensive, quick and oh-so-yummy.  What's not to love?  It's a quick meal in and of itself, but I thought I'd do some prep to make it even quicker.  My efforts paid off.

Here's what you'll need for tonight's meal:

~ Mussels (1 lb does it for me - unfortunately, Wegmans misplaced the special order I had called in early this morning, and I ended up having to wait for a while with two exceptionally apologetic and friendly seafood staffers while they painstakingly looked for the code to ring up a single pound of mussels, which is not a usual purchase.  Hence the call-ahead.  But we found it - #6755.  Immortalized herein)
~ White wine (tonight's was a lively Portuguese Gazela vinho verde - as clear and effervescent as sparkling water - but with a great deal more citrussy, fresh character!
~ Garlic (1 clove)
~ Fresh herbs on hand (savory, thyme and oregano for me!)
~ 10 or so pieces of oven-roasted tomatoes from the Mediterranean bar.  Super yummy.
~ 2 tbs. butter
~ Coarse-ground salt to taste

In the afternoon, I prepped the broth.  Into my pan went some white wine, garlic, tomatoes, herbs, two pats of butter and salt.  I slapped a lid on and put it into the fridge.

End of story.

I came home this evening with my pound of mussels and a baguette, let the pot come to temp while I greeted my puppy and set my bags down, and then started it simmering, rinsed the mussels and plopped them in.  They cooked covered for 3 minutes while I poured myself a glass of chilled wine and sliced the baguette.

Not 10 minutes in the door, I was sitting down to one heck of a savory meal.

Panera, you know I love you - and I'll probably see you Thursday.  But this was a great way to kick off my week!

Yours in the love of good food and wine,
AL

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The blogger is not an experienced chef. She takes no responsibility for the quality of the meals prepared while following her advice. Use your own judgment regarding cooking times and proper food handling.

Ninety-first Post ~ More Mussels (with a citrussy flair!)

If you're sick of reading about the many virtues of a dinner of mussels...

...Then skip this post.

I wasn't going to blog about this, because it is rather similar to some of my past posts, but I feel like this batch was TRULY the perfect combination of herbs and other flavors.  Here's what you'll need:

~ Mussels, of course.  I make a pound per serving.
~ White wine (I used a "melange" of sorts of some leftover dry Riesling and Pinot Grigio)
~ Salted butter.  Lots o' butter.
~ Herbs: Fresh thyme, fresh rosemary, fresh parsley, fresh, fresh, fresh.
~ Chives to top
~ Two crushed garlic cloves
~ Coarse-ground sea salt
~ One slice lemon

In a pan, add a generous bit of wine.  I'd say a little over a cup.  Start the butter melting.  When all is said and done, probably about three or four tablespoons.  Add the fresh herbs, and don't skimp on the parsley.  Add the slice of lemon and the garlic.  By now, your nose should be telling you that you're doing something right.  Add the course-ground sea salt.

Wash and dump in the mussels.  Slap a lid on and walk away for 3-4 minutes as you slice your baguette.  Come back, take off the lid, and SAVOR the aroma!

Top with lots of snipped chives and enjoy with the bread and a glass of dry riesling.  It is a perfect, perfect meal.

Yours in the love of food and wine,
AL

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The blogger is not an experienced chef. She takes no responsibility for the quality of the meals prepared while following her advice. Use your own judgment regarding cooking times and proper food handling.

Seventy-eighth Post ~ Mussels in White Wine and Herb Butter Broth

Blame the dreary weather.  Blame flu season.  Blame the November tendency to burn the candle at both ends.  Whatever the source of blame, I found myself craving the simple, energy-packed joy of a dinner of mussels.

I took my inspiration for parting from my usual wine-and-tomato based sauce from recipes and memoirs from Mireille Guiliano's fantastic books and site.  Seeing as this was a month that ends in "-er" and therefore mussel season, I thought I'd seize the opportunity to revel in this dish cooked with her recommended white wine, butter and herbs.

Here's what you'll need for tonight's dinner:

~ Mussels (I find 15 is a perfect meal for me)
~ White wine (I got a Chilean Sauvignon Blanc by Terra Andina)
~ Garlic (crushed or jarred - I was in a hurry tonight, so jarred it was)
~ Fresh parsley
~ Fresh thyme
~ Scallions (about one full one, from bulb to tips)
~ Butter.  Salted.  Lots of it.  I'm German, not French, anyway.
~ Coarse ground sea salt
~ Crispy baguette (sliced)

In a shallow pan with a well-fitted lid, slosh in about a half inch of white wine and several tabs of butter.  Add all but about 4 inches of scallion and a small handful of chopped parsley with a sprig of thyme.  Add a bit of garlic.  Let it simmer as you wash the mussels.  Add a bit more wine if it starts looking like it's simmering into nonexistence.

Add the mussels and another tab of butter over all.  Slap on the lid and walk away for 4-5 minutes.  In the mean time, slice the baguette and pour your wine.

When the time is up, spoon them out into a bowl with the luscious broth and snip the remaining scallion over the dish.  Grind on some salt.  Savor every last mussel and every last drop of "liqueur."

: : PAUSE : :

I may have gone a little overboard with the scallions.  It made the dish quite oniony.  I LOVED it!!!  It was fresh and zesty and bursting with green flavor.

: : UNPAUSE : :

The wine was a perfect companion.  It was grassy and crisp, but mellow enough to compliment rather than fight the buttery broth.  It tamed the taste of the scallions and brought out the "fresh from the sea" taste of the mussels.

All in all, a very fulfilling, satisfying dish!

Yours in the love of good food and wine,
AL

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The blogger is not an experienced chef. She takes no responsibility for the quality of the meals prepared while following her advice. Use your own judgment regarding cooking times and proper food handling.

Sixty-seventh Post ~ Steamer Pot

I know that summer technically goes until the middle of September somewhere, but to me, the end of August always signaled the end of it. This meal was meant to be a celebration of the dog days of summer - and believe me - cooking it in my 90-degree third floor apartment kitchen really enabled me to welcome in the prospect of autumn and its crisp days.

This dinner was inspired by the steamer pots that my dad and I have shared at Joe's Crab Shack, a care-free restaurant chain that we have visited in Maryland and California. I really think that the act of slamming one pot down on a table and announcing, "Dinner is served!" sets a certain casual, laid-back sort of mood...

So here's what you'll need for tonight's meal (cook this for two - grab a friend, a S.O., a family member, a neighbor - honestly, it's just more fun!):

~ one 2-pound bag of mussels

~ any other kind of mollusk you want to add to the mix - I chose 10 steamer clams

~ one (or two) sausages

~ a good handful of fingerling potatoes

~ three or so ears of corn

~ EVOO

~ onion

~ half teaspoon of sugar

~ scallions or chives

~ garlic (I used three cloves)

~ coarse-ground sea salt

~ seasonings (I used dried thyme, cayenne, white pepper, curry powder and bay leaves)

~ one big ol' pot to cook and serve it in!

Start a large pot about half-filled with water boiling on your stove. Grind in an embarrassing amount of salt.

Chop some onion and start to sauté it in a small pan with some EVOO. My goal was to caramelize the onion and I've learned that there's a fine line between burning and caramelizing. Once they're browning nicely, toss in some sugar and grind on some salt and keep them going, tossing them occasionally. I made the mistake of crushing in the garlic with the onions at this point - all it does is splash hot oil back onto your hand as you crush it in, and then the garlic burns a bit. Injury + Insult. I would recommend waiting until the onions are done caramelizing, turn them off, and crush in the garlic and let it meld.

Once you've turned off the heat under the onions, cut the sausage in half and just set it in the pan with a lid over all so the aroma of the caramelized onions and garlic infuses the sausage.

Now that your water is rolling nicely in your pot, add three bay leaves, a dash of cayenne, curry powder, white pepper, dried thyme, and the pierced fingerling potatoes to the pot. Savor the aroma as you add each spice to the water! Set your timer for 10 minutes. During this time, rinse off your clams and mussels. Also, prep some spices that you'll want to sprinkle over the whole pot before you set it to steam. I mixed a dash of all of the spices listed above into a prep bowl so they were blended and ready for when I needed them.

Cut the ears of corn in half. As soon as the timer goes off, add the corn and reset the timer for 8 minutes. Get your table ready. I recommend large placemats and smallish plates - you're mostly eating out of the pot, anyway! Get some beverages and a large empty bowl for shells and corn cobs. Put some butter on a plate so you can use it on the corn and potatoes if you wish.

When the timer goes off, pour out all but about two inches of water from the pot. Put the caramelized onions, garlic and sausage in. Keep the burner going and put in your clams and mussels. Sprinkle with your spice mix and slap on the lid for 4 minutes.

When the timer goes off, turn off the heat and let it sit for another minute. Then, unveil the steamer pot! Transfer it from stove to table (a trivet or strategically-placed place mat is helpful here). Snip in some fresh scallions or chives for a little fresh, crispy onion taste. Try not to burn your fingers, dig in and enjoy!

I served tonight's meal with a chardonnay by Casillero del Diablo - it was a perfect pairing for the mixture of spices and tastes in tonight's meal. It was refreshing with notes of citrus and vanilla.

All in all, a fun meal and a worthy send-off to summer!

Yours in the love of good food and wine,

AL

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The blogger is not an experienced chef. She takes no responsibility for the quality of the meals prepared while following her advice. Use your own judgment regarding cooking times and proper food handling.

Forty-first Post ~ A Word on Mussels

So I've taken a little cooking hiatus, since I've spent the better part of the holidays at home with my family. And I think nearly all of my readers would agree that when you're given the opportunity to enjoy home-cooked meals from your mama's kitchen every day of the week, you seize that opportunity and you don't let it go. While staying at home, I did learn some valuable recipes from my mom, which I'll be detailing in later posts, including:

~ Perfect hamburgers, every time

~ New Year's Lobster Tails

~ Luscious Cranberry Torte

~ Melt-in-your-mouth Pork Tenderloin...

And many more. But tonight, I'd like to focus on a particular mollusk that I'm a big fan of.

Tonight was one of my first nights back in my apartment, so I thought it apropos that I cook one of the first meals that started me on this interesting journey: mussels in a tomato and wine sauce. I know I featured this recipe when I blogged a few months back about clams, but to be honest, I think that the little-recognized mussel deserves its day in the sun.

Mussels, to begin with, are a heck of a lot cheaper than clams. Clams ring in at $14.99 for a bag of 50 while a 2 lb bag of mussels runs you $4.99. I paid just under $2 for my usual boat of 15 mussels. As previously stated, they're not called "famine food" for nothing.

Call me crazy, but I also just think that mussels taste better than clams. As soon as they hit the sauce this evening, my kitchen filled with the fresh smell of the sea. And by that I don't mean "of seafood," I mean "of the sea" - fresh, clean, pure.

I crave mussels every so often, and maybe for good reason: one pound of mussels contains over 450% of your daily value of vitamin B12. Not to mention a good helping of iron, phosphorus and potassium.

So here's the recipe, in case you didn't catch it the first time around. Don't forget a nice crusty baguette (Paneras or Wegmans fit the bill on this one!) to soak up the sauce.

Here's what you'll need if you're cooking for one:

~ Mussels (about 15-20)

~ 1/2 cup spaghetti sauce

~ 1/2 white wine

~ clove (or teaspoon jarred) garlic

~ 1-2 bay leaves

~ Dash of dried thyme

~ Depending on wine used, a splash of lemon juice for some added acidity

Combine sauce, wine, garlic, bay leaves, thyme and lemon juice in a medium sauce pan with a well-fitting lid. As the sauce starts to simmer, add the mussels after cleaning them under running water.

Slap the lid on and walk away for 3-4 minutes. Pour your wine (I highly recommend Pinot Grigio; tonight's was by Pepperwood Grove) and lay a towel down over your tablecloth. Seriously. You may think I'm joking, but I need it, and I was the child that had my grandfather install a bench at the corner of my sandbox so I could play in the sand but not get myself dirty.

Discard any mussels that don't open. Transfer the open mussels into a bowl and enjoy with the bread and wine. A fine, nutritious, inexpensive, easy meal! What's not to love?

Yours in the love of good food and wine,
AL

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The blogger is not an experienced chef. She takes no responsibility for the quality of the meals prepared while following her advice. Use your own judgment regarding cooking times and proper food handling.

Twenty-fifth Post ~ Clams simmered in white wine and tomato sauce

Here is a dinner that I get a craving for every now and then and feel a great satisfaction from upon preparing and eating.

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Perhaps it's the incredible nutrient value in clams and mussels. Perhaps it's that they're so easy to cook. Perhaps it's because a dish of mussels prepared in much the same fashion was the first meal I researched, tweaked, and cooked for myself at a time in my life when little victories were big victories.

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Whatever the reason, this is a simple, inexpensive, yummy meal.

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Here's what you'll need:

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~ One sauce pan with a well-fitting lid

~ Clams or mussels (in truth, I prefer the taste, appearance, and size of mussels, but I guess they're a relatively seasonal thing. When cooking for one, I find that around 10 clams or 15 mussels is an appropriate number. And mussels aren't called Famine Food for nothing - they're about fifty percent cheaper than clams)

~ Spaghetti sauce (any kind will do)

~ Dry white wine (I typically use Pinot Grigio, but tonight I used a Sauvignon blanc)

~ Bay leaves

~ Garlic

~ Thyme

~ Lemon juice (optional)

~ One loaf crusty, uncut bread (I was walking through Wegmans and was grabbed by the shirt front by the aroma of a freshly-baked Pan Italia loaf, so I grabbed one of those for $2)
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Get your clams or mussels home in an unsealed plastic bag (lest they suffocate) and place them in your fridge post haste. I learned today that the best way to keep them fresh and happy is by placing them in a collander in your fridge covered with a damp cloth.

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When you're ready to cook, rinse the clams or mussels in the sink. If any are open, tap the shell a few times. If it doesn't close, toss it out.

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Your sauce is going to consist of one part speghetti sauce to one part white wine. Do taste a little (wine, that is) while you're cooking. It's part of the recipe. Start that simmering. (Cooking for one, I use 1/2 cup wine to 1/2 cup spaghetti sauce.) As it's heating up, crush one or two cloves of garlic into it. Be sure to stir regularly. Add one or two bay leaves (depending on size) and add a touch of dried thyme. Adding a hint of lemon juice can give it an extra zing.

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Once the sauce starts bubbling nicely, add the clams or mussels one by one. Slap the lid on the pot and busy yourself for about four minutes. Wash dishes, check email, play with puppy, etc.

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Check to see if they're opening. Clams take about six minutes, mussels about four minutes.

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When the time is up, take them off the heat. Throw out any clams or mussels that don't open. Prepare your crusty bread by tearing it into chunks or cutting it into largish pieces. You'll want more bread than you'd expect, because the sauce is excellently flavored by the seafood.

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Place the clams or mussels in a bowl and pour the sauce over them. Eat each with a bite of bread, and use the remaining bread to eat up the remaining sauce!

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I paired (and cooked) tonight's dinner with a Chilean Sauvignon blanc by Viña Ventisquero. It was dry, citrussy, tasting faintly grassy and surprisingly sparkly on the tongue. It paired beautifully with this fresh-from-the-sea goodness!

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Tasty, simple, nutritious, inexpensive!

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Yours in the love of good food, wine, and the meal that started it all,

AL

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The blogger is not an experienced chef. She takes no responsibility for the quality of the meals prepared while following her advice. Use your own judgment regarding cooking times and proper food handling.