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| Mussels and Bread |
When this posts I'll be in the Bahamas! Last year we had a cold winter, and February always feels like a cold, long, boring month (I know it's actually a short month, but it doesn't have New Year's Eve like January and it isn't starting to warm up like March) so this fall I convinced Paul that we needed to go somewhere warm in February. It turns out that it's barely been cold at all this year, but I'm still excited to get away and spend some time lying on the beach. Anyway, on to the recipe.....
I just discovered this great
seafood delivery service in the Washington area, and decided to test it out on this mussels recipe, and also on Dorie's Scallops with Caramel Orange Sauce (another catch-up recipe). I loved the service. It's relatively inexpensive (at least for fish/seafood), so convenient, and the mussels and scallops were both very fresh. I wasn't quite as excited about the recipes. I remember Sara Moulton once saying that the best thing about cooking clams is the amazing sauce/broth they give you. In my opinion, the same thing applies to mussels. I absolutely loved dipping my crusty, no-knead bread into the delicious broth, but was much less excited about eating the actual mussels. The mussels only cost $10 for four pounds, though, so I didn't feel as bad about not finishing them.
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| I love No-Knead bread |
As for the scallops, I usually like sweet-savory combinations, but the caramel sauce was pretty sweet, even for my tastes. I liked Dorie's instructions for cooking the scallops, though, they came out perfectly. I'd definitely use them again, but switch up the sauce. I served the scallops with swiss chard and roasted squash. I think my favorite part of this dinner was actually the roasted squash (yes, I'm more than a little bit strange). It's a Sara Moulton recipe. You halve acorn squash (I actually used some Carnival Squash I bought at a farm-stand this fall), fill it with a mixture of butter, honey, and mustard, and bake it until soft. It's excellent.
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| Scallops, roasted squash, and chard |
Great post! Have fun in the Bahamas!
ReplyDeleteThe sauce from the mussels was very good & I remember those scallops. The instructions for cooking them gave the most tender & perfectly seared scallops that I think I have ever made at home.
ReplyDeleteHope you had a great trips!
Every Christmas Eve we celebrate the feast of the 7 fishes. There are two items I am not
ReplyDeletefond of cleaning, first the mussels and then the squid rings. That said, i could eat the mussels with all of Tricia's men, and enjoy every one of them. This recipe was really great, and except
for the chorizo, I would be happy to add it to our Christmas menu. We enjoyed it so much.
I hope you had a great trip in the Bahamas! I liked the mussels and the sauce. As for the scallops, loved the searing technique and have used it many times since I made that recipe, but the sauce, not so much. I think your intent to make scallops this way with a different sauce is definitely the way to go. The seafood delivery service sounds very cool!
ReplyDeleteBoth of your dishes look delicious! I have been wanting to make some no-knead bread again and you have inspired me. I like the idea of the seafood delivery service and glad that it worked out for you. How fun that you got to go away to the Bahamas and soak up the sun.
ReplyDeletemmmm mussels. I order them out all the time and I've been working up the courage to make them at home. I hear they are pretty simple to prepare, but I'm afraid I'll poison someone or end up with a gritty meal. Any tips for cleaning them?
ReplyDeleteI wish I had good tips. It probably took me 45 minutes to clean 4 lbs of them, and my hands were freezing by the end. From my google "research", I think the most important thing is to keep them very cold (I cover them with bags of ice and put them in the top of my refrigerator), scrub them well, and just do your best with the beards....
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