Thursday, January 23, 2014

FFWD Moules Marinière


Saturday nights.  I've never been much for going out.  Even in college I was just as likely to be at home hanging out in my dorm, or at the library studying, than out at a party.  I've never owned a fake ID, have been to a night club exactly once, and don't really like going to bars because it's too loud to have a conversation.  I recently took one of those silly online quizzes and it predicted my age as ten years older than my actual age, based on my answers to questions such as "what do you do when you're invited to a friend's birthday party that starts at a bar at 9:30 at night?"  (My answer: "decline, without thinking twice about it.")  So, this is all a long-winded way of saying that my Saturday nights weren't very exciting even before Charlotte was born.  Paul and I would normally go to dinner and/or a movie, or have dinner with friends, but we rarely stayed out past 11.  Since Charlotte's been here, our Saturday nights have gotten even more boring.  One day we'll start leaving her with my parents and getting out again (right, mom and dad?), but for now we stay home.

This Saturday, the three of us went shopping, we put Charlotte to bed, and a little after 8 I started on the mussels.  The hardest part, by far, was standing and cleaning each mussel.  (Did everyone do this?  Was it necessary?  Mine were farm raised and not actually the least bit sandy or dirty.)  After that, the recipe came together very quickly.  We didn't have wine open and were too tired to open a bottle (see my above comments on how boring I am!), so I used a combination of apple cider and sherry in its place.  Mussels aren't my favorite,  I'm not a big fan of the consistency, but I love the flavor they give the broth, and happily ate slice after slice of country bread dipped in broth.  I actually ate some mussels too, and for mussels they were pretty darn good.  We both liked the flavor the sherry gave the broth.  To go with these I made a green bean and sugar snap pea recipe from my new Ottolenghi cookbook.  It stole the show.  Easy and delicious.  I'm really looking forward to cooking more from that book.  By the time we finished dinner and dessert it was almost 10 o'clock and time for bed.  Another exciting Saturday!


On another note, several of you asked about my brother-in-law's horseradish whipped cream that I mentioned last week, so I made Paul call Scott (or, the brother formerly known as the Kept Dad) tonight to try to get a recipe out of him.  Scott and I have opposite cooking styles--I follow recipes obsessively, and Scott's amazingly creative and just whips up things based on whatever he has at the house.  (This skill comes in useful whenever we're in town.  Paul loves to call Scott and demand he throw us fancy dinner parties on little-to-no notice.)  So, of course, Scott didn't have a very precise recipe for the whipped cream.  He said to steep some prepared horseradish in some heavy cream (when pressed for amounts, he suggested about 1 tablespoon horseradish to 1 cup of cream, but definitely go on taste) for several hours or even overnight.  When you're ready to serve, strain the cream and then whip it.  That's it.  He said you can serve it on anything: steak, scallops, soup.  He does these seared scallops in those fancy appetizer spoons with the horseradish whipped cream on top that are just excellent. 

18 comments:

  1. Hi Jora! Nothing to be ashamed about, that's living real life, not boring at all. My "babies" are now 8 & 10, but I remember tucking them in bed early then getting to make a "real dinner" just for us. Glad you had a nice meal and that you did eat some mussels and not just bread - ha! (Your O salad comment is making me want to start exploring my Jerusalem cookbook!)

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  2. p.s. if they are farmed, you don't have to really clean them -- a rinse under water and a little jiggling around pretty much does it for the ones I get. Most the time I don't even have to worry about the dreaded "beard", guess that's why we pay the big bucks to the fish shop.

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  3. As funny as it sounds I think that I might have enjoyed this made with apple cider and sherry even more. At home I think I enjoy these more if they aren't the classic preparation.

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  4. I am definitely going to remember the whipped cream preparation method. LOVE!
    I have had Ottolenghi, but haven't done much with it yet - although, it is a gorgeous book and deserves the attention. The salad sounds great.
    Sigh - we won't even talk about how boring I am these days... and my girls are both young adults now :-) Long work days and short weekends make me a bit of a homebody.

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  5. Your Saturdays sound like mine, even the college ones! My roommates went out, I stayed home and watched Food Network. ;) The cider/sherry sub sounds great! What a lovely dinner!

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  6. Your post just made me hungry and I just finished eating! That cream sounds like a perfect accompaniment to steak or scallops…I’ll have to keep that in mind. I also love all the things I’ve read about Ottolenghi and his cookbooks. Glad you enjoyed the mussels! Dinner with your hubby after you put the baby down to sleep is actually a perfect evening!
    I always enjoyed hanging out with my hubby and kids much more than going out and partying!

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  7. Thanks for the info on the whipped cream/horseradish, I am definitely going
    to try that. Your dinner sounds wonderful and looks delicious. Glad you enjoyed
    some of the mussels. Have a wonderful weekend.

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  8. First, boring is not so bad. I have always been a bit boorish but I'm pretty happy being just that. (But, I've never been too tired to open up a bottle of wine!!!) I've always gone to bed early and been up with the chickens! That's the Iowa farm girl in me. When you do start leaving Charlotte with your folks, you'll cut your evenings short just to be able to get home to see if she is "okay" and because you miss her. Just you wait and see. Thanks for the recipe from your bro-in-law. I get what he's saying and am going to try it.

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  9. My mussels were in pretty good shape when I got them home so I gave them a good rinse and sifted through to see if there were any beards or if they needed cleaning. A few had some barnacles which needed to be removed, but otherwise I didn't bother to scrub each one. I think it depends on how they look.

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  10. Bummer you had to clean them.. but funny the mussels I've had to clean have been the better tasting ones. I went to college in NYC majoring in clubbing. By the time I was out of school I never wanted to stay up past 11pm again… a good nights rest is the best. Glad you found these enjoyable.. love the broth myself. Like the sherry idea.

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  11. You just convinced me to buy another cookbook, which I will have to sneak in the house and pretend like its been here the whole time.

    I didn't clean my mussels they were pretty much already cleaned and ready to go.

    I'm with you and Mary - early to bed is good, I prefer staying in than going out, hate nightclubs - what is the point. And well, I like being home with my friends and family best.

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  12. That horseradish whipped cream does sound fantastic!

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  13. I don't even have kids, and my Saturday nights are boring too. Not really, I like to hang out at home. Glad you like these mussels, even if you didn't expect to. Cooking them with cider sounds quite tasty. And, I'm going to figure out an excuse to make your brother-in-law's horseradish whipped cream.

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  14. My sister cooks like Scott...and I follow her around making her tell me exact amounts so I can reproduce them. I've turned into pretty much of a homebody...we went out to dinner with friends tonight and I was so happy we were home at 9.
    PS...I didn't clean my mussels and they were fine.

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  15. The broth was delicious. Like the green bean and sugar snap pea side you made.

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  16. We spend almost every Saturday at home. Sometimes friends come over but mostly I enjoy the peace and quiet after a busy week! I don't like mussels so I did not make this one but I do love cherry and I think that everything tastes better with cherry!

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  17. Hi Jora! I go out all the time, especially since I am in the Hospitality business, so I really love boring. Your mussels look delicious! Enjoy the weekend.

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  18. We feel very sex and cosmopolitan if we're out on the weekend after 9 pm! It doesn't happen often. I'm with you on mussels. I love the flavor but not the consistency. I have the sometimes and love them but don't love the thought of them. Yours look good and I like the idea of using apple cider and sherry.

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