When I posted Mouclade, a few days ago, remember, I promised an Italian version of mussels made with fennel, onion and sausage. I made the dish from Bon Appetit Magazine and while it looks fantastic and appetizing, the flavors and textures didn’t come together as I had envisioned, and I created a different dish, inspired with saffron.

I read that mouclade (mussels with cream) can be made flavored with saffron, which not only did I have on hand, but saffron pasta was sitting in the pantry waiting for inspiration and there was Italian sausage left over.

It’s simple, hearty, flavorful, and if you don’t have saffron pasta on hand, I went ahead and made some for you here. In the post for mouclade, there are some great tips for preparing mussels and a rather lively debate in the comments section.

As the most expensive spice in the world, saffron deserves a tutorial, so as to not waste a single saffron thread. Just as I accidentally killed a few mussels making mouclade, I accidentally reduced the flavor of the saffron by using a wooden spoon, and as the most expensive spice in the world, I won’t be making that mistake again, and now, neither will you.

Notice the red/orange tips, which means this saffron was not tinted and is a good quality.

What You Need to Know about Saffron
• Saffron quality is judged by the color. The more vivid the color, the higher the quality, but avoid saffron that has been tinted, by looking for threads with red/orange tips, or knowing your source.
• Steep in a ratio of 1-3 saffron to hot water for two hours, prior to using. Heat releases the flavor and unlike other spices, saffron flavor continues to grow for up to twelve hours and will be brighter in left overs.
• Do not crush saffron, unless you don’t have the two-hour steeping time. Then decrease hot water, crush with pestle and mortar and allow to sit for 30 minutes.
• Purchase threads instead of powder. Powder tends to lose fragrance.
• Do not use a wooden spoon, which will absorb the fragrance of the saffron.
• Stored in a dark place, saffron should keep for a long time.
• Spain is the world’s largest exporter of saffron, although Iran is the largest cultivator. (You don’t really need to know that, but I thought it was interesting and solved for me the “spanish saffron” curiosity.

Tips for Purchasing, Storing, Cleaning Mussels can be found here. 

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Saffron Pasta with Mussels and Sausage

Mussels in Saffron Pasta, Italian Sausage

Course Entree

Cuisine French

Cook Time 30 minutes minutes

Total Time 30 minutes minutes

Servings 4

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• 2 dozen mussels double that if you are not using sausage
• 4 hot Italian sausage links
• 2 garlic cloves crushed
• 2 shallots finely diced
• 1/4 teaspoon saffron steeped in 1 tablespoon hot water (that has been boiled) for at least two hours
• 1 cup white wine
• sea salt pepper
• 1 pound saffron pasta
• sea salt pepper
• I

Instructions

• n large frying pan:
• Saute onion for two minutes. Add garlic.
• Add sausage, cut on diagonal.
• Once sausage is nearly cooked, add wine, bring to boil.
• Add saffron.
• Add pre-cleaned mussels
• here
• Cover. Cook for 3-6 minutes, just until mussels are opened.
• Serve over cooked pasta that has been tossed with a tiny bit olive oil, salt, pepper. Make sure to use all the juices from the pan for the pasta.
• Season with salt and pepper.

Notes

If you don’t like mussels, just try the pasta with some sausage. You will have to add in some further flavoring, perhaps a bit of browned butter:
If you don’t like mussels, this pasta is good alone or with some sausage and/or shrimp.

The post Saffron Pasta with Mussels and Sausage appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

I imagine these as an appetizer, a bite out of the shell, dripping with cream that is flavored with shallots, butter and white wine and the broth that cooked the mussels, enjoyed with a glass of white wine, a piece of bread, and a nice dinner conversation.

If you are a new reader, every week I put my olive oil flask down and pick up butter and cream, as I cook my way through Le Cordon Bleu at Home with a few other on-line. Cooking french, though is much more than butter and cream. It’s shallots and wine, and a particular aroma that permeates the kitchen that says special, elegant, french.

A few weeks ago, I made my first mussels for a very similar dish, Coquilles Saint Jacques Dieppoise, Shrimp with Mussels and Scallops in Cream Sauce. They were promptly cooked as soon as they arrived home from the store. But, yesterday, I accidentally killed a few mussels before I had a chance to prepare them, but I didn’t realize that until today, when I returned to the store to purchase more live mussels for an Italian recipe I’m going to cook tomorrow. The fish monger told me to make sure I immediately take them out of the white butcher paper and place them in a bowl and stick them in the fridge so they breathe. Otherwise, they die. Now, why didn’t I know this? I didn’t bother to say to him, “oh, that’s why a few were opened when I went to steam them, and I was blaming you for selling me dead mussels.” No, I just kept that to myself and realized how it might pay to read the narrative in the Le Cordon Bleu at Home, and to do some research.

Purchasing Mussels:
• When purchasing mussels, have a conversation with your fish monger. Don’t assume they are going to give you the freshest mussels or select carefully for you.
• Mussels must be cooked while they are still alive.
• Smell them. They should smell like the ocean. If they smell fishy, don’t buy them.
• Getting them from the grocer to home is a challenge, because they can suffocate. A good fish monger sells them loose or in a mesh bag in water; but, don’t expect this in a grocery store. where they may wrap them in butcher paper or worse, polyseal. Next time, I’ll take my own bowl and damp towel. If they are sealed, immediately poke holes in the seal to allow them to breathe.
• Never buy mussels that are cracked, chipped broken or open.
• Live mussels are tightly closed. If they are slightly open, tap on them. If they don’t close, discard them or better yet, don’t purchase them.

Storing Mussels
Mussels should be eaten the same day of purchase, especially if you don’t live near an ocean.
Store overnight in bottom of refrigerator in bowl covered with wet towel.

Cooking Mussels

1. Clean mussels with a stiff brush.
2. Rinse well, making sure you get all the sand out. Soak for 30 minutes in water, if needed.
3. Clean the beard, indigestible fiber hanging vegetation that can be pulled off or cut off with knife.
4. Mussels are best steamed and take approximately three-six minutes to open.
5. Mussels are cooked when they open up completely. If they don’t open, discard.

Le Cordon Bleu at Home refers to this dish as Mouclade. In researching, mouclade, it is often made with curry, although I’ve seen saffron as an alternative. This particular recipe has neither, but it would be interesting to add those flavors.

Recipe
See Le Cordon Bleu at Home for original recipe. This is a serving for 1-2.

1. Chop small onion and shallot, sweat in 2 T butter, add 1/4 cup white wine.
2. Bring to a boil, add a dozen mussels, cover for 3-6 minutes, or until mussels are open. Shake the saucepan to make sure all mussels are properly steamed.
3. Discard any unopened mussels. Remove with slotted spoon.
   Strain broth through a mesh strainer. At this point, I added the broth back into the saucepan and added more wine.
4. Whisk in 1/4 cup heavy cream.
5. Remove mussels from shell, carefully placing back into one half shell.
6. Cover with cream and enjoy.

Come back tomorrow to see an Italian version of mussels made with fennel and Italian sausage.
Come back next Wednesday for Huîtres Chaudes au Muscadet (Poached Oysters with Muscadet Sabayon Sauce).

The post Recipe for Mouclade: Mussels with Cream appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

Well, thank the french that I changed my mind, hurried to the store and right smack in the middle of Wednesday, we had the type of lunch that deserved a bottle of wine. It completely fits my tag line of food a woman will love (because it’s light) and a man will marry her for) because it’s big on flavor and satisfaction.

I fully expected DC, the lover of all things seafood, especially shrimp and scallops, to not like this dish because he doesn’t like any kind cream sauce, deeming them gooey and tasteless. I started thinking ahead on how I could sneak more flavor in the dish and maybe my Wednesday Whisk group wouldn’t notice. Shame on me for not understanding the concept of a flavor delivery from a seafood broth made with wine and cream. We had all the flavor we needed.

It is important to properly clean the mussels. Once cooked, they open up, and should be immediately removed from the heat.

As far as sticking with the recipe, I decreased the scallops and added more shrimp, only because the scallops were $16 a pound. Next time though, we will use more scallops because they were tender and flavorful and searing is not the only way to eat scallops.

This dish is not complicated to make and was ready start to finish in under an hour. It’s an easy and elegant dinner party dish. It was delicious over brown rice with a side of lemony peas, using lots of lemon zest and a bit of olive oil. As the peas fell into the seafood, it added yet another layer of flavor and color and I might do this intentionally the next time. At a dinner party, I would serve the salad last with a very lemony champagne vinaigrette, followed by a decadent french dessert that had berries.

What did I learn?
No matter how much I fight this, there is a benefit in following classical recipes and remaining open-minded. It is difficult for me to cook reading a recipe and not knowing exactly where the writer is taking me. Holding a recipe under my nose is like holding sheet music underneath the musician who plays by ear. I feel and taste my way through cooking and the creative process is my greatest pleasure. However, recipes bring polish and understanding to the process and I appreciate the discipline.

Food fears need to be beaten over the head with a whisk and today I conquered mussels. Every cooking experience makes you a better cook, and increases your ability to “taste” and “improvise.”

So get out there and cook some live mussels in a wine butter broth or whatever your food fear is and see where it takes you.

Please refer to my sidebar for the Whisk Wednesday Blog Roll and see how other experienced this recipe.

Recipe  (adapted from Le Cordon Bleu at Home) Serves 2

• 1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 1/2 pound live mussels
• 1/2 pound wild scallops, cleaned, removing the muscle, cut in half across
• 1 shallot, finely chopped
• 1 cup dry white wine (this is more than recipe for 2 servings)
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
• 2 cups sliced mushrooms
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons chopped parsley, divided
• sea salt
• freshly ground pepper

Mussels:

1. Scrape mussel shells  clean with fork. Throw out any mussels that are not completely closed.
2. Place 1 tablespoon butter in saucepan.
3. Add shallot just until soft, then add wine and parsley and boil.
4. Add mussels and cook until mussels open, about six minutes. Remove opened mussels immediately. Remove mussels to a bowl to cool.
5. Pour broth through a sieve. (The book suggests using a dishcloth. I didn’t) Return to saucepan. Once mussels are cool, remove from shells, set aside, discard shells.

Scallops: Add to saucepan of broth, bring to a boil over high heat, reduce heat to simmer 3 minutes. Remove with slotted spoon to a dish.

Mushrooms: Slice, and saute quickly in large saute pan in 1 tablespoon butter. Season with salt and pepper. Add scallops, mussels and uncooked shrimp. Shrimp will only take a few minutes to cook, so add in just as you are heating the cream.

Cream Sauce: Bring mussel broth to a boil. Add cream and whisk quickly. Bring to boil, simmer for 2 minutes.

Just as shrimp are cooked, add cream sauce. Toss. Serve immediately.

Notes: Original recipe has more scallops than shrimp and serves 6.
Refer to the book for the original recipe.

The post Shrimp with Mussels and Scallops in Cream Sauce appeared first on Spinach Tiger.