Mussels Andorra

Fresh mussels and fresh bread.....very little better than this

I first had these mussels on a trip to Spain during Spring Break 1973.  I think that culinary experience may have been my first time eating shellfish, or at least shellfish that didn't come out of a can or had not been fried.  I am, after all, a midwestern girl!  Moving on:  Needless to say I fell in love and have made them over and over again whenever high quality, fresh mussels are available!  I have collected them from "the wild" but more often than not buy them from a reputable fish monger.  Lucky for me, Geresbeck's, a local grocer, fills the bill nicely, and when i say local, I mean it.  Mungo and i walk up there all the time from our boat slip.  Often the mussels are "farm raised" and usually from New Jersey in this area, but occasionally we luck out and get wild caught Maine mussels.  I snap them up in a flash!  They have so much more delicious, briny flavor.  Two other reasons for buying mussels:  they are unbelievably inexpensive and take almost no time too cook!

There are many subtle variations on this dish but your basic "master" recipe goes like this : 

(note:  if you are using "wild caught" mussels, make sure you allow enough prep time to soak them in cold water brine with a little corn meal for at least half an hour so they will release any sand.  If wild, you will also need to de-beard them before cooking with a pair of kitchen scissors.  Make sure you discard any shell that has a crack or is otherwise broken, as well as any that will not close as those are dead, dead, dead and not at all good to eat!)

Mussels usually come in a net bag of around #3 pounds.  Mungo and I have a hard time eating all of that.  This recipe could easily serve 3 or 4 people with a salad, fresh bread, and a light antipasto.

You will need:

 3-4 TB good quality extra virgin olive oil,

Onion of some ilk ( a medium yellow onion, roughly chopped or a couple of sliced leeks or 4-5 minced shallots).  This is more about what you have than anything else, but it should be a fairly mild onion.

2-4 cloves of Garlic,chopped

2-6 mushrooms, if desired, sliced


Sweat all of your veggies, starting with the onions (until they begin to get translucent) and adding garlic and mushrooms after a bit.  Do NOT allow them to color.  You want the sweet, subtle vegetable nature, not crisp fried and bitter.  Add any dry spices you will be using.  You will want to keep in the Mediterranean palate, so I usually use thyme, oregano, and basil.  Coarsely ground black pepper to taste, perhaps 1/2 a teaspoon of red pepper flakes and a 1/4 tsp or so of saffron threads.  DO NOT ADD SALT!  There's plenty in the seafood.  After the seasonings, add up to a cup of clam broth (you can also use a low sodium chicken broth) and about 1/2 cup of white wine (that you're drinking.  If you wouldn't drink it, don't cook with it, please.) 

Bring to a boil, add all the mussels, cover, reduce the heat to a strong simmer and leave it alone for somewhere between 3-5 minutes.  Remove the cover and, as the mussels begin to open, immediately begin dividing them between your plates.  They should all be open within minutes.  You may close the pot back up if needed but usually as you stir them they will open and release their briny goodness.  Discard any that will not open.

Serve immediately with the broth and with a simple green salad, warm crusty bread, and good drinks.  Depending on what you use to serve, you may need to serve the broth on the side in a separate bowl.

And don't forget a boneyard for the shells.

What a beautiful dinner.

Bon Appetite.

Key Lime Pie: A wonderful summer treat in the dead of winter

One of my favorite treats growing up in Florida was the redoubtable Key Lime Pie.  Originally an uncooked confection (the filling is "cooked" chemically by the highly acidic Key lime juice) using the fragrant juice of the 'Swingle'  (Citrus aurantifolia) lime as opposed to the more common Persian limes, and mixing with sweetened condensed milk (which required no refrigeration), it became a staple dessert in the early 20th century in the south.  It's also monstrously easy to make.  Let's give it a shot aboard ship:

You'll need:  1/2 cup of Key Lime Juice (available most places now in bottled form), three egg yolks (keep the whites for something else), a 14 oz. Can of Sweetened Condensed Milk, and a 9" graham cracker crust.  What makes this a great on board ship dessert is none of this really requires refrigeration prior to making the dessert.

Separate the eggs and use the yolks....you can always use the whites for something later.

Separate the eggs and blend in the sweetened condensed milk while you're heating your oven (350 Fahrenheit). 

Mix them well.  Remember, though, you're mixing, not whipping the mixture (which makes for some funky texture).  As soon as your oven hits temperature, thoroughly mix in the lime juice, pour into the pie shell, and cook.  Don't let the combined mixture sit around in the bowl before you pour into the pie shell.  You may have a bowl of cooked filler.

Add the juice, mix thoroughly

Don't dally.  Fill the pie crust and get it in the oven

There are, indeed, places with certified eggs that do not cook this pie.  If I knew for certain the health and province of my chickens, I might not either, but modern, commercial, factory laid eggs can't be trusted not to carry salmonella.  The brief cooking is enough to kill any nasties in the filling without changing it's nature. 

The smell is wonderful

Cook at 350 degrees for 15 minutes, then set the pie to rest (if you can keep your paws off of it that long) for about ten minutes before refrigerating it (if you can keep your paws off it for that long) for about half an hour.

REAL whipped cream, mind you.  Cream, a little sugar, drop of vanilla. 

Oh, Yum, even if I did nearly drop it.

Serve with a dollop of fresh whipped cream and perhaps a thin lime slice.  This would look prettier if I hadn't almost dropped the pie when taking it out of the oven....sigh.  But it's still wonderful.

The taste is a wonderful symphony of sweet and tart, with the crunch of the graham crust as a bonus.  I just love it.

Enjoy.

M

Review: Butterfly Stovetop Oven

Hey, we've just posted a review of our new Butterfly Stovetop Oven over on our Floating Empire blog.

The Butterfly 16 wick Kerosene Stove and Stovetop Oven as sold by St. Paul Mercantile

It's a great new addition to the galley, but rather than be redundant, just hit the above link and have a look.  We do a lot of outdoor dutch oven baking, but this gives us a really good option for lousy weather.  Now we're sitting around plotting new recipes for it.

Pork Roast, plum sauce, Roasted potatoes. . . . oh yes.

At any rate, pop over to Floating Empire and have a look.

M