She's Not Pretty, She Just Looks That Way

Mussels are incredibly tasty. They also look a little unappetizing. I made this dish for my mom the other night, and she couldn't get over how they looked. Or apparently the texture. So I ate them all. Here's a classic recipe from Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking.

Moules à la Marinière or Fresh Mussels Steamed open in Wine and Flavorings

Ingredients:

2 cups light, dry white wine or 1 cup dry white vermouth

An 8- to 10-quart enameled kettle with cover (I used a Dutch oven)

1/2 cup minced shallots, or green onions, or very finely minced onion

8 parsley sprigs

1/2 bay leaf

1/4 teaspoon thyme
1/8 teaspoon pepper

6 tablespoons butter

6 quarts scrubbed, soaked mussels

1/2 cup roughly chopped parsley

How to make it in my own words:

1) Scrub the mussels. Throw out any that didn't close, they are dead and will make you sick if you eat them. The closing mussels are pretty weird, you don't expect them to be living so when they close on their own it's kind of freaky. Remove the beards (or the hairy string thing that hangs out of the shell) with a paring knife. Soak them in water for 1-2 hours so they expel any sand they might have in them. (I soak them in water with a bit of flour in it since Julia said this might make them more succulent)

2) In the Dutch oven add everything but the mussels and chopped parsley. I used white wine for the base. Bring to a boil and reduce the liquid for about a minute or two. Also, I used shallots, and I would recommend them over the onion or green onion.

3) Add the mussels into the boiling liquid. Cover the pot. Put on oven mitts, and grasp the handles at the same time as holding the lid closed using your thumbs. Shake the pan in a back and forth manner so the mussels are being redistributed in the pot.

4) The mussels are finished when they are open. This will take maybe a minute or two.

5) Throw out any that didn't open. They are dead and unfit for consumption.

6) Using a slotted spoon, scoop mussels out and put them into bowls. The parsley sprigs will now look like rotting seaweed so throw those out, and the bay leaf.

7) Let the liquid rest for a minute so any other sand will sink to the bottom. Ladle the broth into the bowls with the mussels. Top with the chopped parsley.

Serve with sliced bread to dip into the broth, and a lemon wedge.

Sick

In order to be at work on time, I have to leave my apartment at 6:45 am. I have to be out of bed at 6:00 am. Every night I set my alarm for 5:00 am, so I can hit snooze for an hour. That is how long it takes me to gain the will to live in the morning. However, I don't actually drag myself out of bed until about 6:10-6:20 which causes me to be about 15 minutes late for work everyday.

This morning when my alarm first went off at 5:00, I had a sore throat and a stuffy nose. By 6:00, the conditions hadn't improved. I am sick. My nose is stuffy, my ears hurt, and my throat hurts. My body jumps back and forth from being chilled, to hot flashes rivalling those of menopausal women.

I also have no appetite. Which is ok, because my lunch is yesterday's leftovers and I wasn't too crazy about supper last night.

I made crab cakes. I pulled the recipe off the Internet, but I'm not going to share it because I wasn't crazy about them. I used canned crab, and possibly the problem I had with my crab cakes was my aversion to canned seafood. Overall, I think I wasn't crazy about the taste. They were very mayo-y.

I also dipped them into cheater aioli. Aioli is a dip of homemade mayo with garlic and lemon (at least the basic one is). Cheater aioli, is using actual mayo instead of making it with eggs and olive oil.

Cheater aioli is gross. Although I am usually a fan of a certain "miraculous" mayo-type spread which I find a bit tastier than regular mayo, and I was using regular mayo so maybe that was the problem.

I plan on tinkering with the recipe a bit and see if I can improve upon the crab cakes.

The other night I made Julia Child's Potage Parmentier. Which is potato and leek soup. The ingredients are:

8 cups of water (I really can't get over the use of water as a soup base, most everyone uses a stock of sorts, and when I first saw this recipe I was so skeptical of how good it would taste)

4 cups of peeled and diced potatoes

4 cups of thinly sliced and cleaned leeks

1 tbsp salt

Bring to a boil, reduce heat, partially cover, and simmer for 40-50 minutes. I kid you not, this is it. When it's done simmering you are supposed to run it through a food mill. I do not own one, so I used a hand immersion blender the first time. Which I wasn't too keen on since there was no food bits left. I used a potato masher last time, and the texture was way better. (In Julie & Julia, the book by Julie Powell, she uses a potato ricer).

To finish off you stir in 2-3 tbsp of softened butter, or cream. And you can top it with chopped chives or parsley.

This soup is so tasty, and it's so simple. I still can't believe the flavor that comes from so few ingredients.

Life With Me

For those of you who don't know me, or don't know me very well, today I will be sharing things about me. No worries for those of you who do not want to get to know me better and are only here for the food, I have a food post as well!





I am a noisy person. Not just noise that I create by talking, or singing in some cases, but I need noise at almost all times. When I get home from work, I turn on the TV. Not to watch, but to have something on in the background. (I usually put it on the Food Network). I play music all day at work. What kind of music? Usually classic rock or 90's music. I'm not really a fan of any of the Top 40 that gets played these days. It's not really music so much as it's computer generated sound. The only time I don't have noise in the background is when I am reading. (And for those of you who haven't noticed, all my post titles are actually song titles as well).



My favorite meal is steak and lobster. My favorite thing to chop is onions, although sometimes I get carried away and end up bleeding. My favorite song is Patience by Guns N' Roses. Actually it's one of my favorite songs, there are many songs that could be labelled as my favorite. My favorite color is red. My kitchen is red. I have a red stand mixer, with a matching blender and immersion blender. My favorite dessert is creme brulee. My favorite time is 1:23 am. My favorite day is my birthday, which is strange because...



One of my biggest fears is aging. Not so much the part where I get older, but the part where I will look older. Since I was sixteen I have been using anti-aging skin care. I moisturize like a fiend as well. I use anti-wrinkle eye cream, lotions with elastin, and most importantly sunscreen. The fastest way to age your face is to tan it. Even in the winter I use sunscreen on my face. (My face moisturizer and my foundation both have SPF 15).


Yesterday I made an offhand comment to someone I have known for a while about how old I am. He replied "You're only 25? I thought you were older". Kill me now. If I look older than my 25, how am I going to look at 35??? At this point I was considering it might be time to look into a face lift.



I sometimes curse being born a woman. Men have it so easy. Before bed they brush their teeth and that's it. (At least I'm hoping they do). I have a 15 minute routine involving make up remover, cleanser, moisturizer... And how about getting ready to go out somewhere? Wash, dry, product-ify, and straighten my hair. Then apply my face. This takes a long time. (And costs a small fortune since I'm addicted to MAC). If I was a guy I would shave my head, and I could be out the door in 5 minutes. Not to mention they age like scotch and get better in time. (Not that I know what aged scotch tastes like, I'm just using the reference).





Speaking of men who age beautifully... Bruce Willis. In a moment of derangement on the weekend I went into WalMart (I know, I know... I hate them), and picked up a couple cheap DVDs starring Bruce Willis. And then made it Bruce Willis week at my place and am watching Bruce Willis movies all week.


You're welcome ladies.

Back to my depression from yesterday's aging comment. I didn't need to take any sort of pill to make myself feel better, because I discovered that butter and Bruce Willis will do the trick. For dinner I turned to the ultimate in comfort food... Mastering the Art of French Cooking.





So this post isn't too long, I will put the recipe in the comments section. The gist of this dish is beef sauteed in butter and oil, and then served in a sauce made from cream, butter and my new addiction; mushrooms sauteed in butter. I tell you, try these mushrooms and you will be making them all the time. I love them, and up until about 3 weeks ago you couldn't pay me enough to eat a mushroom.

Another thing about me. I'm incredibly scatterbrained. Last night while I was in the midst of finishing off the beef, I was making rice as a side. When it came time to cover the rice, I couldn't find the pot lid anywhere. I knew I had one... I looked in my dishwasher, in the pantry, in my bedroom, by the computer, the kitchen table and the oven drawer. I had no idea where I had left the stupid thing. I gave up and covered the pot with a lid that didn't fit. After I finished plating the meal, I opened the cupboard door to grab a drinking glass, and lo and behold there sat the pot lid. In a cupboard where I keep plates, bowls and glasses, not pots.

Yes, life with me can be crazy... but it's never boring.

Goodbye Earl

One of my sisters was up visiting for the weekend. I had planned on making her a special dinner on Saturday night, and she had mentioned inviting one of my friends over for the occasion.

I made (with the assistance of the other two) Coq au Vin. Or Chicken in Wine. For all of you who are wondering if you can make this dish for anyone younger than the legal drinking age, the alcohol evaporates when the wine is boiled.

Of course I used Julia Child's recipe. I didn't buy Mastering the Art of French Cooking so it could sit on my shelf, unused. She said at the beginning of the recipe that nearly any wine could be used, but the French use red. I used the same GratoNegro Cabernet Sauvignon I used in the Beef Bourguignon. As well I used bacon strips, not a bacon chunk. Overall it was a tasty dish. However, the next time I would go the non-French way and make it with a Riesling (Coq au Riesling).

The recipe can be found: http://www.recipezaar.com/Coq-Au-Vin-by-Julia-Child-98589

While most grocery stores might sell a whole, cut-up, chicken, I bought the whole chicken and cut it myself. My friend commented that by the end of the cookbook I'll be able to do anything. The butchering of the raw chicken was not as easy as the lobster murder. That was quick. The chicken requires joints to be popped out, and the cutting of bones. Sick. In one of the pictures you can see chicken blood on my finger.

(the finished product)

A long time ago, years in fact, my sister bought me a brulee set which included a kitchen torch. I had never used the kitchen torch, mainly because I couldn't figure out how to work it. My friend showed me how this weekend (THANK YOU) and now I can brulee. Which is great since creme brulee is my favorite dessert of all time.

MtAoFC says to make a Creme Brulee, you first make a creme anglaise.

http://books.google.ca/books?id=_8wKzhk70o8C&pg=PA588&lpg=PA588&dq=julia+child

After the creme anglaise was made (in my stand mixer), it became apparent was a cream sauce, not a custard like I had thought it would be. I still bruleed it, and it was very delicious.

(my prized possession, the stand mixer by KitchenAid)

Some Kinda Wonderful

Tonight was my only night this week cooking from Mastering the Art of French Cooking. This is bittersweet, as the food tastes amazing, but my heart can't take much more. Or my pants for that matter.
I had decided to make Bifteck Saute Marchand de Vins, or Pan-Broiled Steak with Red Wine Sauce. To go with the steak I was going to make sauteed mushrooms and rice. (Crazy enough, MtAoFC contains recipes for rice).
I realized this was low in vegetable content. So to go with my very French meal I made Greek Salad. In honor of me renting and currently watching My Life in Ruins. (And if anyone has seen My Big Fat Greek Wedding, you might remember this hilarious part "He don't eat no meat? It's ok... I make lamb")

Ok.. Greek Salad. Easy as can be. Cut up a cucumber, a red pepper, a tomato (I used Roma), half a red onion, and a garlic clove. Add some dried basil, extra virgin olive oil, and the juice of half to a whole lemon. And some salt and pepper. You could toss in some olives too, but I don't because I hate them. (Sorry Grandma... strongly dislike them). Of course, no Greek Salad would be complete without feta cheese. And a lot of it. Let this all sit for about a half hour so all the veggies and cheese really pick up the flavor of the lemon and basil.


The steak... I love love love New York Strips. I look for the ones with fat along the side, but not so much in the middle, it's easy then to cut the fat off, and you get a lot of tasty meat. In a skillet, heat up a bit of butter and some oil. The butter is for taste, the oil is to keep it from burning too quick.
For medium rare, which is the correct way to have a steak, saute each side for 3 minutes. NEVER EVER flip the steak too soon. When it hits the hot pan the meat sticks to it, until it caramelizes a little bit and lifts off the pan.
When the 6 minutes are up, remove the steak and place it under foil for 5 minutes so it can rest. Do yourself a favor people, when you cook meat let it REST. If you cut into it right away, all the juices will run out. Let it rest, and the juices redistribute themselves into the meat.

Now drain the fat out of the pan, and add some butter to it. Saute a minced shallot, and then add half a cup of wine. I used red, but you can use white. Let it reduce until it's thick and syrupy. Remove from heat and stir in about 4 tablespoons of butter. Not all at once... add them in small pats.

Earlier on today I wasn't really feeling the rice. Or potatoes, it having been Thanksgiving and all. Since I was making everything with butter already... ravioli with a brown butter and sage sauce it was. However, I do not live near a magical grocery store. Like the ones on TV. Where you can go to a store and get any kind of pasta, or fresh seafood, or hard to find produce. So instead of ravioli I bought tortellini. And instead of remembering to buy sage, I forgot it.
Brown butter sauce is really easy. You melt butter in a pan. Until it turns brown. Hard I know. However, once it turns a golden to amber brown it needs to be removed from the heat. You do not want black butter sauce. Gross.
My favorite part about tonight's meal was the mushrooms. Ok that's not true... my favorite part was the steak. There is nothing better in this world, than a hunk of red meat.
Back to the mushrooms. Up until a week ago I hated mushrooms. I had even tried them three times.
I have a rule, in which everything must be tried three times as it just might have been the preparation that you didn't like, not the actual ingredient.
The trick to making these amazing mushrooms is to get the butter in the pan very hot. The butter is hot when it melts, foams, and the foam subsides a bit. Then place the quartered mushrooms in the hot butter. DO NOT CROWD THE MUSHROOMS! If they are crowded they sweat and steam and become disgusting chewy gross things. If they have room to breathe, they will brown and caramelize and the texture is amazing.
Plus since mushrooms absorb everything they taste like meaty butter. So good.

I tossed the mushrooms into the brown butter for the pasta and mixed it in with the pasta. Then I served the steak with the wine sauce on top.

Now I apologize for my terrible picture taking. Please believe that the food tasted really really
good, and it appears that I have to practice making it look more appetizing in photos...

Rock Lobster

Well tonight I had dinner at my sister’s place. So instead of showing something I made tonight… I’ll go back to the weekend. My friend and I had been talking for a while about getting together to cook some shellfish. Shellfish cooking intimidates me, so I had figured that having my friend help might ease the intimidation.

Since I have just recently purchased Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking, I was really inspired to make many a dish from the book in the last week or so. We picked lobster thermidor.

We started out by going to a seafood store. We picked the lobsters that were fighting the most to stay alive. This is morbid, since the reason we were buying lobsters was to kill them.
Then we got lost while trying to find our way back. This kind of stuff happens to me all the time.

We began the lobster massacre when we finally arrived back at my place. We filled a large pot with wine, onions, and herbs. We each grabbed a lobster. I admit I hesitated before setting mine in the pot. He was flailing around like crazy. I imagined placing him in the pot, and then he would freak out and try and claw his way back out. He didn’t. He just sat in the vat of boiling wine. The other lobster went in quickly after him and they boiled to their delicious death.

Making the sauce for the lobster thermidor had many steps. Which I will not bore you with. It was very time consuming, but every single second was worth it. If you are wanting to make this wonderful dish you can view the recipe here:

http://www.recipezaar.com/Lobster-Thermidor-a-la-Julia-Child-57196

But I suggest that you buy Mastering the Art of French Cooking. (Really really suggest it!)

In the end the lobster meat is stirred into the sauce and topped with cheese and then baked off in the oven. The final product looked like: