Seth's Mussels

Scott and Maya took off for Indy this past weekend and I told Seth he could have whatever he wanted for dinner - he wanted us to cook something together.

He is SO my son. He got on Tastespotting and came upon a recipe for Mussel Curry. He thought about that and decided he would rather have mussels like he had when he was in France with his grandmother two summers ago. So - here it is:

Seth's Mussels

½ bottle dry white wine
chicken stock (in about the same quantity)
½ large white onion - chopped
3 cloves garlic - smashed through press
1 t olive oil

Saute the onion and garlic in the olive oil until nicely browned. While we did this we discussed:

* adding the garlic last so that it doesn't scorch
* how browned food equals flavor

Add in the liquids and simmer for at least an hour. Here we discussed how reducing liquids makes them have a more concentrated flavor. We debated adding some tomatoes but decided against it.

Add in 2 lbs* mussels (in the shell). We found some frozen ones at Schnuck's that turned out quite nicely. Cook for just about 5 minutes. Not too long!

Serve with slices of baguette, goat cheese and sliced tomatoes. Use the bread to sop up the juice. While in France Seth learned how to use an empty mussel shell as pincers to remove the mussels from the shell (hmmm - I feel a song coming on!)

* I forgot to check the weight of the mussels. These were vacuumed packed on one layer - about 10x5 inches?

This was a lovely spring meal with WONDERFUL company!

old recipes

I haven't had too much time to post lately - but enjoy this and the following recipes next winter please!

Italian Pot Roast

1 small shoulder roast - well trimmed

1 diced onion
1 cup diced carrots
1 cup diced celery
1 cup sliced mushrooms
3-4 cloves garlic - put through press
1 t olive oil
parsley
oregano
1 large can good quality crushed tomatoes
red wine ~ 1 cup

Saute veggies and spices in olive oil until nicely browned. Add in tomatoes and wine and simmer until wine cooks through.

Meanwhile, heat dutch oven and brown roast well on all sides. Top with sauce and roast at 300 for 3+ hours - checking about every ½ hour. I couldn't find my lid so I just covered with a piece of tin foil. The house smelled amazing Friday afternoon!

Remove from oven, shred beef and serve with a hearty pasta shape such as rigatoni or ziti and topped with good quality Parmesan.

The leftovers for this are delicious. Since Maya loves baked pasta I made that with this sauce last night and it was just heavenly on a cold snowy night.