An ode to mussels

Mussels are in my eyes one of the greatest week night ingredients. They’re cheap, simple to cook, flexible in flavour pairings and take less time than pasta to cook.

On top of that they’re one of the best meats for environmentally concious foodies, their farming does little or no damage to the environment and they’re farmed in a wholly renewable fashion.

The only drawback to mussels I could point out would be that they are a little difficult to get hold of, only infrequently appearing in my local supermarkets in the deli section. The closest reliable source is the fishmongers at Prahran Market which is a 20 minute drive from our abode. Grab them when you can!

Mussels in Beer Broth

This recipe is an adaptation of a usual suspect in our house, Mussels in White Wine Broth however I had a bottle of Red Hill Brewery Belgian Blonde in the fridge from a trip to their establishment last weekend. A light slightly sweet beer with a bit of spicy hops, I had one bottle left this evening and pairing it with the mussels just made sense.

1kg fresh mussels cleaned
300ml beer (about a bottle, drink the rest)
1/2 brown onion diced
3 cloves garlic diced
large pinch dried chilli flakes
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 tablespoon butter (optional)

1. In a large pot cook the onions and garlic in some olive oil [1] with a large pinch of salt until softened. Then melt the butter in with the onions.

2. Add chilli flakes, lemon juice and beer and bring close to the boil.

3. Put in the mussels and cover. Cook for around 5 minutes, stirring once or twice until most [2] of them have opened.

4. Serve immediately in bowls with the broth and a side of bread for dipping.

[1] Use olive oil for the flavour, especially if you are not adding butter later.
[2] Eat the bloody closed mussels as well! The myth of mussels that don’t open being off is utter rubbish, not only does the eminent science communicator Dr Karl agree with me, but so do mussel farmers! I ate 5 of them tonight.

I love doing complex meals and trying new recipes continually but like everyone I have a few standby recipes that I fall back on time and time again and I’ve just found a new one. One of the recipes I often do is one of Nigella Lawson’s super quick Mirin Salmon.

I got some beautiful salmon fillets from the Prahran Market yesterday morning in preparation for a quick and easy sunday evening but come Sunday evening there was a giant bowl of Waldorf salad left over from Saturday that needed finishing.

Deciding that the paring of Waldorf salad and Mirin Salmon was probably not the greatest onto the internet I went. Seared Salmon popped up as a paring with the salad in question and given the quality of the salmon I decided to investigate the best method.

A quick google popped up Gordon Ramsey doing his thing in a manner that seemed both easy and sensible but also with the usual flair that Ramsey provides. So here it is, the first half is a potato dish that also looks worth a try.

Yesterday I purchased some Rapini, which I’ve never eaten before let alone cooked with. I grabbed it as it was there, figuring it would make a good side for the duck legs I had found in my local butcher. When I got to checkout of the grocers the girl asked me what I was going to do with it. I replied that I didn’t know as I had never eaten it. The checkout girl looked shocked, I didn’t know what I was going to do with it? I was buying something I had never eaten? What the hell?!

Her reaction got me thinking about my attitude towards cooking and how it differs from others.

I enjoy wowing with food, and that includes wowing myself. There is a thrill and sense of accomplishment when a dish turns out and people enjoy it. To do this I’ve learnt a trick, not being afraid to fail when cooking a dish. With this I am happy to leap into trying new dishes, new techniques, so I regularly cook with new ingredients or untried recipes.

Too many people are afraid to fail when it comes to cooking, so they don’t try and the lack of variety leads to boredom and cooking being a chore. I still get annoyed when a dish doesn’t turn out as I had wished, but that just means I take another crack at it later. Rarely will there be an inedible disaster, so guests are rarely left hungry even if I have to apologise for such and such not quite working.

Cook one thing a week that you have never tried to cook, I dare you.

ps. I did sort of know what I was going to do with the Rapini and that was add butter and garlic, if in doubt use butter and garlic, you can’t go wrong!