Recipes

THREE TIMES MUSSELS, BUT JUST A LITTLE BIT DIFFERENT

Months with an R in the name are my favorites. You feel it already, right? I'm crazy about mussels. I love taking trips to the sea, just for a pot of steaming mussels. By the way, I eat and drink them to the bottom, because I find the cooking liquid the absolute tastiest. Mussels with garlic, white wine, or dark beer are often standard on the menu. But you can do so much more fun things with this shell. Here are my favorite recipes.

1. Thai Stir-Fried Mussels

300 grams of pandan rice

4 kilos of mussels

3 tablespoons of oil

2 onions, coarsely chopped

2 tablespoons of Thai red curry paste (in a jar)

1 red chili, sliced

1 bunch of bok choy, cut into strips

1 stalk of lemongrass

1 cm of fresh ginger, finely chopped

1 package of creamy coconut milk (200 ml)

1 bunch of coriander, coarsely chopped

1 lime, cut into wedges

1 Cook the rice according to the instructions. Check the mussels: throw away shells that are broken or do not close after a firm tap.

2 Heat the oil in a large high pan. Sauté the onion. Stir in the curry paste, red chili, lemongrass, finely chopped ginger, and bok choy. Pour the coconut milk over it. Place the mussels on top of the vegetables.

3 Place the mussels on the bok choy and generously grind pepper over them. Cook the mussels for 6 to 8 minutes with the lid on, or until all the shells are open.

4 Serve the mussels, sprinkled with coriander, in the cooking liquid. Serve the fragrant rice in bowls and lime wedges separately.

2. Italian Mussels

200 grams of chorizo

2 onions

2 cloves of garlic

100 grams of sun-dried tomatoes

2 bay leaves

150 ml of dry white wine

1 teaspoon of chili pepper (from a grinder)

4 kilos of mussels

4 tablespoons of flat-leaf parsley

1. Cut the chorizo into pieces. Chop the onion and finely chop the garlic and cut the sun-dried tomatoes into pieces. Heat a large frying or mussel pan and lightly fry the chorizo. Add the onion and sauté for 3 minutes. Add the tomato, bay leaf, wine, and chili pepper. Bring to a boil and let simmer until most of the liquid has evaporated.

2. Rinse the mussels in plenty of cold water. Remove the open and damaged specimens.

3. Add the mussels to the pan with the chorizo mixture. Put the lid on the pan and bring everything to a boil. Cook the mussels for 5 minutes. Shake the pan a few times in between.

4. Finely chop the parsley. Sprinkle the mussels with the parsley.

3. Mussels with Fennel and Pastis.

bottle of cooking cream (250 ml)

4 kilos of mussels

2 cloves of garlic

1 fennel bulb

1 tbsp olive oil

6 tablespoons of Pastis

1. Rinse the mussels in plenty of cold water. Remove open and damaged shells.

2. Remove the bottom of the fennel bulb and slice the fennel as thinly as possible.

3. Heat the olive oil in a large pan and sauté the fennel and garlic for 1 minute.

4. Drain the mussels and add them to the fennel mixture. Add the cooking cream and Pastis. Cook for 5 minutes on high heat with the lid on the pan. Shake regularly.

Do you have a winning recipe? Email it to me at simone@amayzine.com.

Months with an R in the name are my favorites. You feel it already, right? I'm crazy about mussels. I love taking trips to the sea, just for a pot of steaming...

Bon appétit!