October 7, 2013

Flex Your Mussels

dani@slyrooster.com Seafood basil, heavy cream, leeks, mussels, tomatoes 4 Comments

My family has a new dinnertime game called, Two Truths and a Lie.  It’s a fun way to wrestle from your children (and even a tired spouse) some information about their day.  The rules: share two true facts about your day with one made-up incident thrown in.  Everyone takes a guess at which statement is the lie, learning about your recent experiences in the process. The closer the fallacy is to the reality, the greater the challenge. My turn on Sunday night went something like this…

This weekend, I:

* drove six sporting event carpools.

* wore some new Fall clothes.

* took Hoover to the Dog Park.

Well, with the temperature reaching 88F in Washington, DC this weekend, it’s no surprise that the fall clothes remained in my closet as I shuttled between soccer, hockey, lacrosse and the dog park.  Are you ready to play?

Here’s one about mussels:

* They can only be prepared by a restaurant chef.

* They are intimidating.

* They’re perfect for making at home.

If you guessed that the first statement is the lie, DING, DING, DING you are correct.  Mussels are intimidating but shouldn’t be because they are easy to prepare at home. Mussels are inexpensive ($3.99/lb.) while feeling like a “treat,” they cook quickly and can be prepared in a wide variety of ways.  When paired with a salad and plenty of crusty bread, they make as nice of a weeknight supper as they do an elegant dinner party.  They can also be a great first course to a more formal meal.  A big pot of one variety is great, a second pot of another is even better.

This weekend I hosted a Belgian themed dinner party where mussels were the first course.  Out of the many options–from white wine to coconut curry–I chose to serve one pot with a spicy tomato sauce and another with leeks and cream.  These two preparations proved to be entirely different yet equally tasty when sopped up with slices of baguette.  And before even picking up the mussels from the store (which can be done a day ahead but I did several hours prior to serving, the same time I did my ice run), I made both of my sauces.  They sat covered on the stove, waiting to be reheated before tossing in the mussels to cook.  All the work was done before my guests arrived, leaving just the finishing touches to complete before sitting at the table.

I think that the intimidation factor is related to the handling of these live mollusks which should be stored in a bowl or open plastic bag in the refrigerator.  Prior to cooking, place them in a bowl of cold water and individually inspect each mussel, discarding any that are cracked or already opened (if they don’t close tightly when tapped against the counter).  If you notice a “beard” on any of them (for lack of a better description, it’s a Brillo pad-like protrusion) pull it off.  After the inspection process, transfer the mussels to a second bowl of clean cold water, dump the original bowl and stir them around again.  Basically, you want to remove any grit from the shells so repeat this step until the water at the bottom of your bowl appears to be clean.  Then put the mussels back in the refrigerator until you’re ready to cook them.

As I mentioned, for both pots of mussels that I prepared, I completed all of the steps prior to “adding the mussels to the pot” earlier in the day.  When I was ready to complete the recipe and serve I just brought each sauce back up to a simmer.  The thing that I have learned after several mussel meals is that the cooking time is really just an estimation that depends on the temperature of your sauce, the seal of your pot and maybe even the particular batch of mussels.  You don’t want to overcook them but you also don’t want to be prying open the shells.  So when you expect them to be done, open the lid and take a look.  The vast majority of the shells should be wide open and the few that remain closed should be tossed.  I took the photo of my tomato preparation too early and had to put the pot back on the stove for around five minutes.  Not a disaster but a closer look would have enabled me to get it right the first time.

Be brave and use these recipes as a jumping off point for your own mussel exploration. Remember, mussels aren’t just for restaurants anymore.