Many people are afraid of cooking and eating different seafood, as they don’t know what to start with. In fact, it is much easier than might seem. I would like to share a few tips on choosing, cleaning and keeping them. We will also cook Mussels in cream today. It’s one of the classic ways.
How to choose: mussels shells should be closed, unbroken. The surface of the shell is shiny and wet. Fresh mussels have a slight sea odour. There shouldn’t be any extra smells. After buying mussels you shouldn’t close the pack. Leave it open, mussels should breathe. If you close a pack, they might suffocate and die.
How to prepare: after you bring mussels home, you should check them first thing. Check if there are some open mussels. You have to throw them away, as they are already dead. If the mussel is slightly open, you need to tap it. It will close if it’s alive and you may cook it. If the mussel doesn’t close, you mustn’t eat it. Throw it away.
Next, you should put the mussels into cold salted water for 15-20 minutes (2l of cold water, 2 tablespoons of sea salt per 1 kg of mussels). When in water, mussels start clearing off sand and mud. If there are some mussels which pop out in 15 minutes, you should throw them away.
After that you should take a small knife and remove a “beard” with a blunt side of the knife (if it hasn’t been done in the shop) and clean the shell properly. Remove carefully going from the wide side of the shell to the narrow one. You shouldn’t pull hard not to break the shell. Next, you should remove the corals from the surface of the shell as well as seaweeds and any other mud. The shells should be absolutely clean. After that the mussels should be washed properly with cold water one more time. Take a new sponge and scrub every mussel with a hard side of it to remove the rest of mud. We have to do all this to avoid any poisoning.
How to keep: mussels is the type of food you should cook immediately. In case you had no time to cook them the day you bought the mussels, you’d better leave them in a strainer, covering them with a wet napkin. You should put some sea salt and a pack of ice on top. Keep in the fridge for no longer than 2 days.
Today we’ve got the recipe 2 in 1
The first one is Mussels Mariniere. Those are mussels in white wine and the second recipe is based on the first one, but you should add cream or cream fraiche. You may choose cream to your taste, either 10% or 33% fat.
Recipe: Serves 2
Shallot — 2 medium, chopped or diced
Butter — 2 tbsp
Thyme — 2 sprigs
White Wine — 250ml
Parsley — 1,2 tbsp, chopped
Fresh Mussels — 1 kg (Mussels have to cleaned, scrubbed, washed and debearded).
Cream or Cream Fraiche — 250ml
To begin with, let’s cook Mussels Mariniere.
Fry shallot onion in a heavy bottom pan, adding butter and cook for 3-4 minutes. Add 2 sprigs of thyme and white wine. As soon as shallot gets soft, add the mussels, cover the pan with a lid and cook on high heat for about 3-4 minutes, shaking a pan a few times slightly until you see that all the mussels opened, finally add the parsley.
Mussels in Cream:
First, we cook Mussels Mariniere. Before you add the cream, take out the mussels and thyme. If there are unopened mussels, throw them away. Add the cream and cook on low heat until the sauce starts reducing slightly and the cream thickens. Then, we add half of parsley, put the mussels back to the pan, shake or stir carefully with a wooden spoon. Warm up the mussels in the sauce for about 2 minutes. Add the rest of the parsley. Serve with crusty bread.
Notes: If you cook plain mussels “Au Naturel”, you should remember that you have to remove them from the heat as soon as they open. It will take 2-3 minutes. You should stir the mussels only with a wooden spoon or shake the pan and do both carefully not to break the shells. The fragments of the shells are sharp, it is very dangerous. If you want to cook a big amount of mussels, you should divide them into parts and cook 2 times, part by part, so the mussels cook evenly. As an appetizer you will need about 400g of mussels per person and for a meal about 700-800g of mussels.
