Posts tagged mussels
Seafood obsession part III – Spicy mussels and clams with leeks, beer, chili and herbs
Mar 1st
A la pêche aux moules….- Moules et praires aux poireaux, bière, piment et herbes
A la pêche aux moules, moules, moules, je ne veux plus y aller maman, les gens de la ville, ville, ville, m’ont pris mon panier… despite mon panier, I still want to go mussel fishing!
I am afraid I cannot stop eating seafood, it’s becoming an obsessive compulsive thing, I somehow realized the more you do something, the more you want to keep doing it…and right now I am dealing with eating mussels or anything that looks like a mussel (so clams are included in it). I promise this will be the last seafood dish for a little while, unless I am unable to control my seafood compulsion and if I come to that point, I think I will have to start doing yoga or meditation.
I have been to my favorite store this weekend to the other side of the Bay and loaded my cart with so many wonderful goodies I thought I would never find. I think the day I will leave the Bay Area, I will miss this store so much, because at this point I have not seen something that amazing and exciting anywhere else, not even in any European city…just Berkeley, California. Berkeley I salute you.
Mussels are so popular in Mediterranean cuisine, and moules marinières, probably the most common way to prepare mussels in Belgium (and in France too), and are on every menu of any French restaurant in the US. So enough of moules marinières, and let’s add un “petit piment” in our mussels. Dans la vie, il faut du piment!, we need some spice in your life, don’t we?
Leeks and mussels go so well together, and here the broth is enhanced by lemon juice and chili, with a dash of beer, what a flavorful combination. I usually count 2 lbs of mussels per person, depending if you serve mussels as an appetizer or main course and the appetite of your guests.
Ingredients for 2
- 2 lbs mussels
- 1 lb clams
- 1 shallot, chopped
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1 leek, chopped
- chili flakes
- juice of one lemon
- a dash of beer (1/2 cup)
- 1/2 tbs parsley, chopped
- 1/2 tsp basil, chopped
- 2 tbs olive oil
- salt and pepper
Preparation
In a large pot, heat 1 tbs olive oil. Add shallots and garlic, stir and let it brown for a few minutes. Add leeks and cook until tender, then add chili flakes. Add mussels and clams to the pot. Stir well, adjust with salt and pepper.
After the mussels and clams are half open, add beer. Mix well. Cover and let the mussels cook until they open completely. Add lemon juice and 1 tbs olive oil, stir and cook for an additional 2-3 minutes, at the end at parsley and basil.
A little tradition doesn't hurt… – Scallops in their "shells" with mussels, shrimps and cod with leeks and Cognac sauce
Sep 2nd
Un peu de tradition ne fait pas de mal – Coquille de fruits de mer avec sauce poireaux et flambée au Cognac
Sometimes, you just have to treat yourself…today was my treat day and I really enjoyed it to the fullest. Treating for me has to do with seafood, so those wonderful coquilles (shells) made my day. I have a friend over for dinner tonight who relocated from Hawaii and who is having a difficult time adjusting to San Francisco life. It’s a definitely a wonderful city but tough, it certainly can be difficult to find a decent place to live, a good job, find friends, etc…so I wanted to make something that would make her feel good, unfortunately I did not have enough seafood to make those coquilles for everyone. Entertaining is a wonderful remedy for all kinds of diseases, don’t you think? For both, the one who cooks and the one who eats.
Anyway we have this traditional seafood appetizer called “Coquilles St Jacques” which refers to the commercial name of that mollusk but also refers to a scallops mixture dish, cooked in oven, but mainly served in their own shell like this one. There are many recipes for Coquilles St Jacques, literally translated by “Saint Jacques Shell” and this one is my version which has always been a favorite among my friends and family. It is difficult in the US to find scallops in their shells, so I bought ceramics shells. They look like a time-consuming dish to prepare but they’re really not.
In France, we eat the red part of the scallop also (never seen it in the US since they’re not sold in their shell) and that’s what we call corail (like corral, due to its color) that is the genital part of the scallop. I realized that the French tend to eat quite everything, maybe not as much as Chinese…but still.
I haven’t flamed (flamber) anything for a long time, and that really represents the basic of French cooking. So I felt really going back to traditions by just lighting up a match.
Ingredients for 3 large or 4 small
- 1 cup shrimps, deveined and without shell
- 1 cup small scallops
- 1/2 lb cod or white fish, cut in cubes
- 1 lb mussels
- 1 shallot
- 1 cup leeks (the white part), cut crosswise
- 2 tbs heavy cream
- 2 tbs Cognac or Whiskey
- 1 tbs chopped chives
- Panko breadcrumbs
- 1 tbs olive oil
- salt and pepper
For the sauce
- 1 tsp butter
- 3 tsp white flour
- 1/2 cup mussel broth
- 1/2 cup milk
- salt and pepper
- a pinch freshly grated nutmeg
Preparation
Wash and clean the mussels. Heat olive oil in a deep pot, and add mussels. Cover and let the mussels open. Keep the liquid. you should get about 1/2 cup of mussel liquid. Remove mussels from pan, and remove from their shells. Set aside.
In a pan, heat olive oil, add shallots, brown them, add leeks and cover. Cook leeks until they get soft. Add shrimps, scallops and fish. Cook at medium heat but do not over cook. Save the extra liquid you get from cooking the seafood, and add to the mussel’s liquid. Add mussels to the fish/seafood mixture. Stir well. Add cognac and flame with a match. Add cream, reduce until the cream has thickened. Stir well, add chives. Set aside.
For the sauce
Melt butter in a pot, when butter has melted, add flour and stir well, like if you’re making a roux. Add nutmeg. Add milk and liquid from mussels progressively, always stirring. Add salt and pepper. Stir until the sauce has thickened. It’s the same process as a Béchamelle sauce
Add sauce to the pan containing seafood. Mix well. Fill the ceramic shells with this mixture, if you don’t have any, you can use ramequins or any individual little dish. Sprinkle with breadcrumbs and cook in a pre-heated oven at 375F for about 15 minutes until the breadcrumbs get golden. Serve very hot as an appetizer.
