Indoor Clambake!

Right now, at this very moment, this is what my mailbox looks like:

I mention this because it is usually right at this time of year that I start getting this deep yearning for a clambake. Not in the middle of July and August, when a clambake is a reasonable thing to yearn for. No, not me, I am a "need to have a clambake in February" kind of girl. I know, I know. But where there's a will, there's a way, and so....

INDOOR CLAMBAKE!!!

Honestly, it's one of the easiest dinners you can make, assuming you can handle the trauma of putting the lobster in the pot. (I can't. I tried. But as usual, I ran out of the kitchen like the coward that I am and left that part to the Southern husband.) Here's what you need: Lobsters. Clams. Mussels. Baby red potatoes. Sausage - I like andouille sausage, but keilbasa or any other hearty, good-sized sausage will do. Corn on the cob, if you can find it. A couple of onions. Garlic. Lemons. A really, really, really big pot. Some Jimmy Buffett music. Ready?

OK, take that big old pot and layer (in order) the onions, the garlic, the lobsters, the clams, the mussels, the potatoes, the corn and the sausage. At this point the lobster will start waving at you from the pot and you will need to run out of the kitchen while braver people settle them back in there where they belong. If you are me. Then add about 5 inches or so of water or chicken broth. Cover the pot and turn the heat on high. Check it after 20 minutes or so, and if the lobsters are bright red and the clams and mussels are open, you're done! Melt some butter, cut up some lemon wedges, line your table with newspaper and you are ready to roll. I usually put the whole lot into one big bowl, scatter some lobster crackers around, and let the games begin. If you use a pretty thick layer of newspaper you can just let folks drop the shells right onto the table, and then clean-up is as easy as rolling up the paper with the shells inside.

It's almost like summer.



Only four months to go....in the meantime, recipe below.

INDOOR CLAMBAKE!

• 3 onions, peeled and quartered
• 8 garlic cloves, peeled and halved
• 4 lobsters
• 2 dozen clams, cleaned
• 2 pounds mussels, scrubbed
• 16 small red potatoes, halved
• 4 ears corn, husked
• 1 pound cooked sausage, cut into chunks
• Melted butter for dipping
• Lemon wedges for serving

1. In a very large pot, layer from bottom to top: onions, garlic, lobsters, clams, mussels, potatoes, corn, sausage.

2. Add 5-6 inches of water or chicken stock

3. Cover and cook over high heat for 20-30 minutes until lobster is red, clams and mussels are open and potatoes are tender. Serve with butter and lemon.

Click here for printable recipe

Mussels Ravigote!

I am always SO excited when I go to a restaurant and see the following item on the menu:

"Moules Frite"

Because the translation of that is "mussels with french fries," and I adore mussels with french fries. I adore mussels in general, as you know if you have read this, and this, and this. So when you add french fries to the mix...well, you have me at hello.

This recipe goes a teeny tiny bit over my "done in 30 minutes or less or the Jacksons don't eat it" rule, but that is only because the fries need to cook for about 25 minutes to get to that wonderful crispy golden state of done-ness. And while they are cooking you can leisurely go about tossing together the super-simple mussels part of the recipe, which involves steaming them in a bath of white wine and clam juice, and putting together a mixture of onion, chopped pickles, herbs and mustard that gets tossed with the mussels once they were done. The Southern husband couldn't stop talking about how great the pickles were with the mussels. It's that whole salty seafood thing...it's fabulous.

And then of course you have the fries on the side as an extra added bonus. Baked in olive oil, tossed with coarse salt and parsley and parmesan cheese...need I go on? I guess so, since you are probably now wanting the recipe, if you are a mussel maniac like me. Here you go...

MUSSELS RAVIGOTE with PARMESAN FRITE, adapted from Cooking Light

1/4 cup finely chopped red onion
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1 tablespoon minced fresh tarragon
1/4 cup sliced cornichons
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
2 teaspoons capers
1 1/2 teaspoons extravirgin olive oil
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 garlic clove, minced
1 cup dry white wine
1 (8-ounce) bottle clam juice
48 mussels (about 2 pounds), scrubbed and debearded
2 baking potatoes, cut into 1/4 inch strips with skin left on
Olive oil
1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper



1. Preheat oven to 500.
2. Toss potato strips with olive oil and lay on greased baking pan. Bake for 10 minutes, remove and toss, bake for another 15 minutes or until golden.
3. Meanwhile, combine first 9 ingredients in a small bowl; set aside.
4. Bring wine and clam juice to a boil in a Dutch oven. Add mussels; cover and cook 2 minutes or until shells open. Remove mussels from pan with a slotted spoon; discard any unopened shells. Keep warm.
5. Bring wine mixture to a boil over high heat; cook until reduced to 1/3 cup (about 15 minutes). Pour liquid over mussels. Add the cornichon mixture; toss.
6. Serve with parmesan frites and a bowl on the table for the empty shells.

Click here for printable recipe

Cider Mussels

I don't know about you, but there is something about the fall season that compels me to buy these big gallon jugs of apple cider. The practical Southern husband valiantly tries to remind me that maybe a smaller container will do. That they do sell cider in quarts, and that maybe the last several hundred times I bought the giant gallon container maybe we didn't actually drink all of it, because after the first glass or two or three of cider I am kinda done with the apple cider experience for another season.

But I don't listen, because you never know when you are going to need some apple cider and not have some, and so there the giant vat of cider sits, taking up valuable room in the fridge that could be used for other items. And that's a perfect time to haul out this recipe, which calls for using a nice big helping of cider to steam up a plate of mussels. It also calls for cream, and for brandy, and for bacon. Are you with me? I know you are. It's enough to make you want to run out right this minute and buy a giant vat of cider, right?

Two special notes about this recipe. First of all, while you don't have to, the thick-cut variety of bacon is absolute heaven with this particular recipe. Second, make sure you read the little note at the end of the recipe about what to serve this dish with. I promise it's worth it.

Okay, go take advantage of apple cider season now.

CIDER MUSSELS, adapted from Cold-Weather Cooking

1 red onion, sliced thin
1 1/2 cups apple cider
3 pounds mussels, scrubbed and bearded. Toss out any open ones.
1/4 cup brandy
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
Fresh ground pepper
8 ounces bacon, cooked and crumbled
1/2 cup minced parsley

1. Place onion, cider and mussels in large pan. Cover tightly, bring to a boil and cook until mussels open, about 5 minutes.

2. Transfer mussels to a large serving dish and cover to keep warm.

3. Add brandy and cream to liquid remaining the pan, bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Season with pepper.

4. Pour cider cream over mussels. Mix in bacon and parsley. Serve at once.

Note: I have served this with warm sliced bread to mop up the sauce (trust me, you will want to mop up the sauce). OR...you can cook up a pot of linguine and assemble as follows on individual plates: linguine, topped by mussels, topped by cider cream, topped by bacon and parsley. The cream sauce will sink down into the pasta on the bottom. If you try this version, invite me for dinner.

Click here for printable recipe

Mussel Bisque

Remember the great mussel with blue cheese recipe from a couple of weeks ago?

Mussels with Blue Cheese Sauce

Well, when I originally got those mussels (or, I should say when the helpful Southern husband went and got those mussels) they were supposed to be made into a mussel bisque. I had been meaning to make the mussel bisque recipe from the SILVER PALATE cookbook for the past 100 years or so, but never seemed to get around to it. But I was bound and determined this time, and picked up all the ingredients...but broke one of my golden rules, which is the Always Read The Recipe Carefully First To See How Much Time It Takes To Make Rule. And so when I got home from work in the rain that Friday night and finally read the dang thing, I realized that this was not a weekday quick dish, but a weekend leisurely dish.

Oops.

So THOSE mussels went into the speedy blue cheese recipe, but I was prepared for the next batch, and so last Sunday I finally made the bisque. I should warn you that while it is not hard at all to make, it DOES involve steaming the mussels and then taking each and every one of those little puppies out of the shell. Not hard, but this is the sort of thing that one likes to come to grips with beforehand. Anyway, the soup is a gorgeous, rich concoction of mussel broth, white wine, cream, tomatoes, basil and a load of tender mussels. I served it up with a salad and some fresh bread and a nice merlot, and voila! the perfect Sunday supper. Thanks for the umpteenth time to the SILVER PALATE.

MUSSEL BISQUE, adapted from SILVER PALATE GOOD TIMES COOKBOOK

Serves about 6-8 as main course

• 2 cups water
• 3 cups dry white wine
• 3 pounds mussels, rinsed and bearded
• 1 stick butter
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 large leek, white part and 2/3 green part, cleaned and minced
• 2 carrots, minced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 medium tomatoes, seeded and chopped
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
• 2 cups light cream
• 1 cup heavy cream
• Salt and fresh ground pepper

1. Pour water and one cup wine into large pan. Add mussels, cover pan and steam until mussels are open, about 3-5 minutes. Discard any mussels that do not open and cool. When cool enough to handle, remove mussel meat from shell and set aside. Save 3 cups of cooking liquid and set aside.

2. Melt butter in large stock pot over high heat and add onion, leek, carrots and garlic. Saute for 5 minutes, reduce heat to low, cover pot and and cook for 25 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes or so.

3. Add tomatoes and cook for 5 more minutes. Add remaining wine to mussel cooking liquid, add to pot and heat to boiling. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 15 minutes.

4. Add herbs, then creams, then mussel meats. Season to taste with salt and pepper and heat just until soup is heated through. Serve with salad and nice crusty bread.

Click here for printable recipe

Mussels in Blue Cheese Sauce

Mmmmmmussels.

This may be my favorite "make it fast" dinner ever. Or at least in the top five, but that is because I love, love, love, love mussels. LOVE THEM. They are so easy to make and they are so dang delicious. The standard mussel recipe is to steam them in a little white wine and parsley and serve them up with some fresh bread to sop up the broth, and believe me, I'm not knocking that approach, it's a classic. But this one takes it a step further without a whole lot more work, and it is just heaven on a plate. If mussels go to heaven, which I sincerely hope they do.

We had this one last Friday night when the teenager (who, if you can believe it, does not LIKE mussels. I'm sure wherever she was, she had chicken fingers or pizza) was out with her posse of friends, and it was just me, the Southern husband and the hopeful dog. I had planned to make the mussel bisque from the SILVER PALATE GOOD TIMES COOKBOOK, and next time I really will...but that recipe is kinda lengthy, it was the end of a long week, I had just slogged home in the rain...I looked at that bag of mussels and thought...yes! Mussels in blue cheese, which sits on just enough pasta to soak up the world's best sauce. If I do say so myself.

So if you are a mussel lover, here is the recipe you have been waiting for all your life. And if and when I make that mussel bisque recipe, I will report back!

MUSSELS IN BLUE CHEESE SAUCE

• 1 two pound bag mussels
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 large carrots, chopped
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 cup white wine
• 4 ounces crumbled blue cheese
• 4 ounces thin spaghetti (or whatever pasta you like), cooked and drained

1. Rinse mussels, discarding any with open or broken shells and pulling off any of the beards (strings coming out of the mussels
2. Melt butter in large pan and saute carrots and onions for 5 minutes over medium high heat
3. Add mussels and white wine and cover until mussels are open, about 5 minutes
4. Remove mussels with slotted spoon into bowl and set aside.
5. Add blue cheese to pan and stir until melted.
6. Divide pasta among plates (use plates with a bit of a lip to them so that you don't have spillage issues!)
7. Top pasta with mussels, and then pour sauce over all. It is going to look like a LOT, but trust me, it's the right amount. Those shells take up a lot of room. Make sure you have a bowl on the table so that folks can toss the empty shells into it as they go.

Click here to print this recipe!