Mussels with Fennel and Saffron

I love cooking and eating Italian food and was sure I already knew quite a lot about it. But, every time I read a cookbook, I find there’s always more to learn. And, who better to learn from about Italian cooking that Lidia Bastianich? Her latest book is Lidia's Celebrate Like an Italian: 220 Foolproof Recipes That Make Every Meal a Party: A Cookbook, and I received a review copy. It’s full of recipes and suggestions for serving crowds big to small at any time of day and in any season. The chapters include Aperitivi, Appetizers, Salads, Soups, Vegetables and Sides, Polenta Risotto and Pasta, Fish and Seafood, Poultry and Meat, and Desserts. Lidia shares how she likes to entertain with a spread of appetizers or stuzzichini from which guests can help themselves before the main meal begins. She makes suggestions for options with and without meat to suit any budget and season as well as any guest’s preferred diet. In the Appetizers chapter, I learned about a type of frico I’d never encountered before. I previously knew frico as a crisp, little round of browned, shredded parmesan cheese that is great on top of a salad or as a snack with a cocktail. Here, Lidia gives a couple of recipes for a larger, layered frico. This Friulian version involves par-cooking potatoes and then slicing them. Then, a mixture of polenta and grated cheese is spread in a large heated skillet; that’s then topped with some of the sliced potatoes; depressions are made and an egg is cracked into each; the remaining potatoes are added on top of the eggs; it’s then topped with more polenta and cheese. This frico is cooked like a Spanish tortilla to brown both sides in the skillet until the eggs are set. It’s cut into slices to serve. There’s also a second similar frico made with ditalini pasta, prosciutto, tomato paste, and peas. I can’t wait to try this kind of frico. Some other dishes that caught my eye include the Polenta Torta with Gorgonzola and Savoy Cabbage. It’s a layered savory cake with melted, lovely cheese within the stacked polenta. In the Vegetables chapter, Lentils with Butternut Squash and Portobellos Stuffed with Quinoa and Kale are on my to-try list. It’s clear that Lidia’s party guests never leave hungry. I had some local fennel and was in the mood for something a little lighter, so the Mussels with Fennel and Saffron was the first thing I tried. 

To begin, you want to make sure your mussels are clean. This time, the mussels I bought needed some debearding, but they often come completely clean. I soaked them in salt water while prepping the other ingredients. The saffron was bloomed by adding it to warming stock. I used a vegetable stock, but chicken stock is suggested. Then, in a Dutch oven, olive oil was heated and finely chopped onion and diced fennel were added. They were left to cook for a few minutes. I had an organic Italian Trebbiano d'Abruzzo I had heard good things about and was excited to use. So, that white wine, salt, and red pepper flakes were added followed by the mussels and hot stock with saffron. The pot was covered, and the mussels were cooked for a few minutes until opened. The mussels were served with the broth with fennel and topped with chopped parsley. 

I have a thing for saffron and always love a broth or sauce perfumed with it. It was delicious with the mussels and fennel. I served the mussels with big slices of focaccia to dip into the broth. For this meal, it was just the two of us. But, I’ll be looking back to this book for ideas and recipes for entertaining bigger groups throughout the year. 

Mussels with Fennel and Saffron 
Cozze con Finocchio e Zafferano 
From the book Lidia's Celebrate Like an Italian: 220 Foolproof Recipes That Make Every Meal a Party: A Cookbook by Lidia Mattichhio Bastianich and Tanya Bastianich Manuali, copyright 2017 by Tutti a Tavola, LLC. Published by arrangement with Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. 

You can serve this fun yet elegant dish in individual portions, piling the mussels high on each plate with a ladle. Make sure you distribute the sauce evenly and have plenty of grilled bread on the table, as well as some bowls to collect the shells. Even without the saffron, this is a delicious dish, but the saffron adds a luxuriousness that I love. This recipe is easily scaled up; plan on a pound of mussels per person for a first course, 1 1/2 to 2 pounds for an entree. 

Serves 4 as an appetizer 

1 cup chicken stock 
1 teaspoon saffron threads 
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling 
1 small onion, thinly sliced 
1 medium fennel bulb, trimmed, halved, cored, and thinly sliced lengthwise, 1/4 cup chopped tender fronds reserved 
1 cup dry white wine 
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt 
Pinch crushed red pepper flakes 
4 pounds mussels, scrubbed and debearded if necessary 
1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley 
Crusty country bread, for serving 

In a small saucepan, heat the chicken stock to a bare simmer. Add the saffron, and let steep 5 minutes. Keep hot. 

In a large Dutch oven, heat the olive oil over medium heat. When the oil is hot, add the onion and fennel. Cook and stir until wilted, about 3 to 4 minutes. 

Add the white wine, salt, and red pepper flakes. Simmer until reduced by half, about 3 minutes. Add the mussels and hot stock. Bring to a simmer, cover, and cook about 3 to 4 minutes, until the mussels are done; discard any that haven’t opened. Stir in the parsley and reserved chopped fennel fronds, stir, and serve with bread. 

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Pickled Mussels with Radishes, Toasted Coriander Seed, and Fennel

What meaning comes to mind first when you hear the word gather? I thought of bringing people together, gathering a group around a table. The other way to think about gathering is in the act of obtaining ingredients for a meal. You go out to gather what you will prepare, and that might be from a garden, a farm, a forest, the ocean, or the grocery store. The new book Gather: Everyday Seasonal Food from a Year in Our Landscapes by Gill Meller is really about both uses of the word but he focuses on what’s available for gathering from the landscape at different times of year. For him, it’s not the source of the ingredients that’s as important as the experience of the time and place for the flavors they offer. He encourages taking a moment to enjoy the first taste of a dish that’s particular to a season. Of course though, he also points out that considering the journey made by the ingredients before arriving on the plate makes cooking and eating more rewarding. The recipes here aren’t complex, but there are some new and different combinations of flavors. The chapters are organized by places where the food might be found like Farm, Seashore, Garden, Orchard, Field, Woodland, Moor, and Harbor. There are simple compositions like Goat Cheese with Rhubarb and Lovage served on toasted bread, Spring Cabbage Salad with Honey and Sprouted Lentils, and Barbecued Little Gems with Cucumber White Beans and Tahini. There are salads, main courses, and sweets sprinkled throughout each chapter. There are tomato and zucchini dishes in the Garden chapter that I’ll be turning to as soon as those star ingredients appear this year, and the Harbor chapter had me marking almost every page. The dish I had to try first was something new for me: Pickled Mussels. The cooked mussels are quickly pickled in apple cider vinegar with coriander seeds, and they’re served with crisp radish slices. In the book, apple slices are included but I opted for fennel instead since it’s in season here. 

Like all the recipes in this book, this one is about subtle flavors that add just the right note to a dish. Apple cider vinegar was very specifically chosen as was coriander seed. In the spirit of gathering what is available at this time of the year, I brought home locally-grown purple daikon and watermelon radishes for their pretty colors and peppery flavors. The thinly sliced fennel added sweet, fresh, anise to the mix. To prepare the mussels, I always soak them first in water with a little flour to purge them and pull off any remaining beards or debris. After being drained and rinsed, the mussels went into a large pot with a half-cup of boiling water to which a couple of bay leaves and some thyme sprigs had been added. I was delighted to gather those herbs from my own yard. The pan was covered, and the mussels opened after a couple of minutes of cooking. They were removed from the pan, and the cooking liquid was strained into a bowl. When cool, the mussels were removed from their shells. Cider vinegar, coriander seeds, some of the cooking liquid, and salt and pepper were combined and poured over the mussels. This was left to sit while the other ingredients were prepped. The vegetables were all thinly sliced with a mandoline and scattered over plates. The mussels and dressing were added to each, and I placed a few frissee leaves among the arrangement. 

In a short amount of time, the mussels take on nice pickle-y flavor from the apple cider vinegar. And, the crunchy, fresh vegetables make great partners for it. This was surprisingly good for such a simple mix of things. I’ll be thinking back to this book as I gather what’s freshest and best in the coming weeks and truly enjoying the flavors.  

Pickled mussels with radishes, toasted coriander seed, and apples 
Recipe excerpted with permission from Gather: Everyday Seasonal Food from a Year in Our Landscapes by Gill Meller, published by Quadrille March 2017, RRP $35.00 hardcover. 

There is something of Normandy in this fresh salad: a bicycle ride down the Route du Cidre; a peppery-pink radish with delightfully fresh, cold butter; a bowl of plump, yellow wild mussels, cooked in cream on some beach off Gouville-sur-Mer. It’s almost like you taste it in French. This dish is about perfectly cooked mussels, sweet, crunchy apple, and the acidity of good cider vinegar—and how they all play out when they get together. I love the orangey air that toasted coriander seed brings to the delicate pickle—it’s well worth a try. You can prepare the mussels the day before, but I like them best once they have cooled and before they see the fridge. 

serves 2 

2 bay leaves 
2 thyme sprigs 
18oz [500g] mussels, cleaned 
1 Tbsp good-quality cider vinegar 
1/2 tsp golden superfine sugar 
2 tsp small coriander seeds, toasted 
1 dessert apple 
4 to 6 firm radishes, with tops, if available 
Salt and freshly ground black pepper 

Place a large pan over high heat. Add a scant 1/2 cup [100ml] water, the bay leaves, and thyme sprigs. When the water is boiling hard, add the mussels, and place a close-fitting lid on the pan. Cook, shaking the pan once or twice, for 1 to 2 minutes, or until the mussel shells are all just open. Turn off the heat, then drain the mussels into a colander set over a bowl to catch the cooking liquor. Discard any mussels that haven’t opened up. 

When the mussels are cool enough to handle, remove the meat from the shells, and place it in a bowl, reserving the drained cooking liquor. Add the cider vinegar, sugar, coriander seeds, and 2 Tbsp of the cooking liquor to the mussel meat, stir through, then season with a little salt and pepper. 

To serve, quarter and core the apple and then cut each quarter into 2 or 3 wedges. Divide the apple pieces roughly between two plates. Slice the radish into 1/16 to 1/8 in [2 to 3mm] rounds, and scatter them over the apple, along with any radish top leaves, if available. Finally, spoon over the mussels along with plenty of their coriander-spiked dressing, and serve immediately.

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Thai Coconut Mussels

Needless to say, I’m picky about food. Over the years, I’ve become much more open-minded about trying new and different flavor combinations, but I seem to be getting choosier all the time about exactly where my food comes from and how it was raised/grown/caught/delivered. Kurt dreads the string of questions I ask about the menu when we try a new restaurant. I’m especially picky when it comes to seafood, but there are some handy clues for deciphering seafood dishes on restaurant menus. “Atlantic” salmon always means farmed, and therefore, I avoid it. If the menu also mentions bluefin tuna, Chilean sea bass, or orange roughy, I’ll probably just want to leave. The news about different types of fish is constantly changing, and overfishing is an ongoing concern. But, maybe it’s not too late to do something about it. When I heard about the new book, The Perfect Protein: The Fish Lover’s Guide to Saving the Oceans and Feeding the World, by Andy Sharpless, CEO of Oceana, I was very interested in learning what tips it offered. I received a review copy of the book, and I’m also one of the Perfect Protein bloggers. The book covers how we got to where we are with unsustainable fishing practices, how many people around the world rely on fish as a food source, what we could be doing differently, and how the fish in the sea could become abundant again one day. The book includes success stories of places where regulations have been put in place, and fish populations have improved significantly. The three steps outlined to bring about sustainability are: “set science-based fishing quotas, reduce bycatch, and protect habitats.” What consumers can do includes being informed about sustainable seafood options; choosing wild seafood, smaller fish like anchovies and sardines, and mollusks more often; and spreading the word about the issues. 

One of my favorite quotes regarding sustainable seafood is from chef Barton Seaver: “It’s our patriotic duty to eat as many farm-raised shellfish as we can.” While most fish farming is an environmental nightmare, farmed shellfish is a completely different story. Clams, oysters, and mussels are natural filters or “water scrubbers.” They feed on the lowest level of the aquatic food chain and improve the water quality where they’re grown. So, enjoy eating mollusks as often as you can. The Perfect Protein book includes recipes for some of the best, sustainable seafood options from several well-known chefs, and I wanted to highlight a dish with mussels. The Thai Coconut Mussels dish is from Sam Talbot of Season Two of Top Chef. I always start by soaking mussels in a big bowl of water with a few tablespoons of flour for about 30 minutes. This helps with eliminating sand and grit. Then, the mussels should be rinsed, and any beards still attached should be pulled off with the edge of a knife. To start the cooking, a few tablespoons of olive oil were heated in a large Dutch oven, and three tablespoons of grated ginger, four minced garlic cloves, one finely chopped shallot, and two tablespoons of finely chopped lemongrass were added. In a couple minutes when fragrant, two tablespoons of unsweetened, ground coconut was added followed by a pound and a half of cleaned mussels. The heat was turned up to medium-high, and then a tablespoon of soy sauce and one teaspoon of fish sauce were added. I also added some finely chopped, fresh chiles. After about one minute, three-quarters of a cup of coconut milk was added, the pan was covered, and the mussels were left to cook for about four minutes or until opened. Any mussels that don’t open should be discarded. The opened mussels were placed in serving bowls, and cilantro and mint leaves along with the juice and zest of two limes and some Thai basil and purple basil from my herb garden were added to the coconut milk. I also added some thinly sliced lime leaves from my tree. The coconut milk broth was poured over the mussels. 

The herby, spicy flavor of the coconut milk broth was a great match for the mussels, and some rice noodles were ideal for slurping with the extra broth left in the bowl. It’s not easy to always make perfect choices in the ever-changing world of sustainable seafood, but learning about the issues makes it possible to do better as often as we can. 

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Mussel and White Bean Stew

This dish falls squarely within that category of recipes that are so simple, every ingredient really matters. It's a quick dish too. You do have to pick the mussels from the shells after they're cooked and opened, but even that step only takes a few minutes. This came from last October's issue of Food and Wine, and the total time for making this is noted as 30 minutes. I think it might have been less than that. So, about those ingredients. The mussels, of course, need to be as fresh as can be. They get steamed in some white wine, and then that broth is strained and added back to the stew, which means you'll want to use a wine you really like. Then, a good amount of olive oil is used for cooking some garlic and chopped chiles to begin the stew. I was lucky to have just received some olive oil samples from Nudo which is the company known for its Adopt-An-Olive-Tree program in Italy. I received two gift sets. One included three different olive oils, and the other included basil oil and a container with seeds for growing your own basil. I used the plain extra virgin olive oil for sauteeing the garlic and chiles, and I drizzled a little of the extra virgin olive oil with chilies over the stew for serving.

The cooking time is so short, you definitely want to have everything prepped and ready before you start. I let the mussels sit in a big bowl of water with a little flour while I minced the garlic and chopped the chiles. The mussels were rinsed and drained and checked to be sure none were open. Then, they went into a big skillet with white wine and cooked until opened which was about three minutes. The mussels were removed to a plate, and the wine was strained into a bowl and reserved. The mussels were picked from the shells, and the shells were discarded. Next, extra virgin olive oil was warmed in the skillet, and the garlic and finely chopped chiles were sauteed. Rinsed and drained white beans were added followed by the reserved wine. That was brought to a boil and seasoned. Last, the mussels were added with some chopped homegrown parsley.

This is perfect on a cool, fall day, but for a stew, this one isn't too heavy. A thick slice of bread or two is a good accompaniment, and the drizzle of extra virgin olive oil with chilies was a fitting garnish. For such a simple stew, the flavors were anything but after starting with great ingredients.

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Figaretti’s “Godfather II” Linguine

We all have our favorite comfort foods. For years, my go-to comfort food meal was take-out shrimp fried rice and a vegetable egg roll. Of course, macaroni and cheese and pizza never disappoint in this area either. A lot of different dishes qualify as comfort food, and they all tend to be pretty universally appealing. The new book from Saveur, The New Comfort Food of which I received a review copy, shows off several such dishes. Everything in the book causes cravings, and the food comes from all across the globe. The cover photo sets the tone of the book with a look at a golden-brown and tantalizing potato gratin. Inside, you’ll also find delicious-looking huevos rancheros, New Orleans-style bbq shrimp, and chicken tikka masala among the more than 100 recipes. In the Baked Goods and Sweets chapter, every single thing is something I want this very minute. There’s ice cream with butterscotch sauce, caramel coconut flan, and buttermilk flapjacks. And, the black-and-white banana malted milk shake in the Drinks chapter distracts me every time I flip past that page. I’ll be spending a lot of time going from one section of this book to the next, but the first chapter I had to cook from was Pasta and Noodles.

This is exactly my favorite kind of pasta dish with the bell peppers, cherry tomatoes, white wine, fresh basil, and shellfish. The recipe comes from Figaretti’s restaurant in Wheeling, West Virginia. It’s a quick and easy dish to prepare, but you want to have all the ingredients prepped and ready before you start cooking. The water for the pasta should be boiling as you heat some olive oil in a large saute pan. Linguine was added to the boiling water as chopped green and red bell peppers were sauteed with onion and garlic. White wine and mussels were added to the vegetables, and the pan was covered for two minutes of cooking. The lid was removed, pasta water was added with shrimp, tomatoes, and some butter, and after a few stirs, the shrimp was cooked. Last, the cooked linguine was tossed with everything in the saute pan, and fresh basil was added. The pasta was served with asiago cheese and lemon wedges.

I don’t mind breaking the rule and adding a little grated cheese to the pasta despite there being seafood involved. It brought savoriness to the sweet peppers and tomatoes. Admittedly, almost any kind of pasta dish is comfort food to me, but one with white wine, butter, fresh basil, and shellfish is a treat. What’s your favorite comfort food?

See my review of The New Comfort Food and get this pasta recipe at Project Foodie.

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Ale-Steamed Mussels with Garlic and Mustard and Matchstick Potatoes

For Kurt’s birthday week, because I like to celebrate things like birthdays for more than just one day, I always whip up some of his favorite foods. He’ll find scones in the kitchen for breakfast, usually his favorite pasta meal the day before or the day after his birthday, of course a birthday cake, and at some point in the week he’ll be served a meaty meal with some cut of beef. It’s not that he never gets to eat beef any other time of year. But, since I don’t eat it, I don’t choose to cook it unless it’s a special occasion and I’m also cooking something else for myself. This year, I cheated. I didn’t actually cook anything with beef. Instead, I devised a bistro-style menu which would include steak frites for Kurt and moules frites for me. I knew Kurt would prefer his steak to be grilled, and that meant he’d cook it himself. I was left to concentrate on the frites which could be kept warm in the oven while my mussels quickly steamed. It all sounded so easy. I made the fried matchstick potatoes from Barefoot in Paris, and the ale-steamed mussels from In the Kitchen with a Good Appetite.

Naturally, my plan fell apart. The potatoes required more time for frying than I anticipated because there were more batches than expected, and of course, frying made a huge mess. The potatoes were peeled and then cut on a benriner with the medium slicing blade attached. They were soaked in water, drained, and dried with towels. Matchstick-size fries are simpler to fry than thicker ones because there’s only one frying step. You don’t have to blanch in oil and then re-crisp since they’re so skinny. Just be sure to use a large pot with plenty of room, use a thermometer to check the oil temperature, and fry in small batches. Once the fries are removed from the oil, drain them on a rack set over a baking sheet, sprinkle with salt, and then keep them warm in a 250-300 degree F oven. Since I was hustling to finish frying all those batches of frites, I didn’t pay much attention to the mussels. Thankfully, they don’t require much attention. I soaked the mussels in water with some flour to be sure they were clean. Then, they were drained and rinsed. In another large pot on the stove, shallots and garlic were sauteed in olive oil. Some good Belgian ale was added and brought to a simmer, and then the mussels were placed in the pan, and the lid was set on top. When the mussels opened, they were transferred to a serving platter, Dijon mustard and butter were added to the ale mixture in the pot, and all of that was whisked to combine. The resulting sauce was poured over the mussels before serving. It all worked out in the end; it just took a little longer than expected.

To serve the frites, they were piled on a platter, sprinkled with chopped parsley, and I added a drizzle of white truffle oil. After tasting them, the time it took to make them and the mess from frying didn’t matter anymore. They were pure, crispy goodness and with truffle oil were beyond words. I was thrilled with the mussels too, and I instantly thought this was the best version of mussels I’ve ever made at home. And, what about Kurt’s steak? He chose bison instead of beef, and grilled it to his own exacting standards. The bistro concept worked out great, but how could it not with a big, shared platter of frites?

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Mussels with Hot Paprika Breadcrumbs

This dish caught my eye in the January issue of Food and Wine. It was part of the 50 trends to try this year, and the trend in question was new sparkling wines. Three wines including a lambrusco bianco, a sparkling chenin blanc, and a sparkling gruner veltliner were suggested, and all would pair well with the mussels. We never have much luck locating exact bottles that appear in articles and that proved to be the case last weekend. So, we chose a prosecco instead. Therefore, I suppose we failed to experience this trend set by these new sparklers, but the mussels were outstanding with the bubbly wine we did procure.

This was served as a first course prior to the eggplant salmon entree. The mussels are quick and simple to prepare, and smoked, hot paprika is always welcome. Breadcrumbs were tossed with butter-cooked garlic and paprika, and then thyme, lemon zest, and salt and pepper were added. This mixture was spooned over steamed, opened mussels which were then set under the broiler for a couple of minutes.

Simply delicious. Of course, we wished we would have bought more mussels. When paprika, butter, and breadcrumbs are involved, always plan to serve more than you think you’ll need. The prosecco was lovely as both the steaming liquid and as the beverage served with the finished dish, but the Szigeti Gruner Veltliner Brut sounded interesting. We’ll have to keep looking for it so we can properly experience this particular trend.

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Shellfish with Saffron, Tomato, Shallot, and White Wine

Serves two:

1 medium to large shallot finely diced

3 garlic cloves, sliced

3 T olive oil

1 c diced tomato, canned if out of season

1 c white wine such as sauvignon blanc

2 pinches saffron

11 black mussels

11 littleneck clams

8 fresh Gulf shrimp, u20, shelled and deveined

2 T chopped fresh parsley

in a five quart pot, saute shallot and garlic in olive oil over medium heat until fragrant; add tomato, wine, and saffron and bring to a boil; add all shellfish and cover for five minutes; remove shellfish as it is done (mussels may open before clams and shrimp will cook more quickly if closer to the bottom of the pot); place shellfish in two big soup bowls with tomato-wine liquid ladeled over top; garnish with chopped parsley; serve with toasted garlic bread to soak up the delicious saffron tomato broth.

--This was an easy Sunday night shellfish meal. We enjoyed this with whole grain garlic toast and a salad of mixed greens.

*Kurt expressed his delight with this dish without even being asked!

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