Garlic Mussels

Give me a big bowl of mussels and a crusty baugette and I'm happy! Seriously.   Mussels are one of my favourite foods, so easy to make (literally takes seconds) and can be flavoured in many ways.

Think Mediterranean with chopped tomatoes, garlic, onion or something completely exotic like a green curry with coconut milk, or just keep it simple, garlic and parsley or just GARLIC and lemon then you can truly savour the flavour of the sea!


If you've been eating mussels at restaurants and perhaps baking the frozen ones at home you need to upgrade and start making these in your kitchen, I promise, it's super easy!

All you need:

Fresh live Mussels that smell of the sea (Costco has them in a 2 Pack vacuumed sealed tub, just bring them home, pop them in your fridge and cook in the next couple of days) One pack makes one bowl that you see above, perfect as a meal for one person or to share as a side or "snack"

First sort your mussels and make sure they're all nice and closed, sometimes it takes a bit of time for them to wake up if they're cold from the fridge. Nearly my entire tub was good, maybe with the exception of 2-4 mussels that I threw away.

Other ingredients:
- Big drizzle of olive oil
- 2-4 large cloves of garlic, chopped in a fine dice
- Salt

In a large pot add olive oil to the bottom, on medium high sautee the garlic until fragrant. As soon as you get that garlicky whiff add your mussels in the pot.  Turn the heat up to high, sprinkle a nice amount of sea salt.

Now for the liquid, most people use white wine but you can absolutely use water, I just drizzle 3/4 of a cup or so and cover the pot with the lid.

It helps to have a glass lid to see what's goin' on but as soon as the mussels open up they're done!  To help them along I grab a tea towel and use it to hold the lid down and give the pot a little shake and place back on the heat just to get all of them opened up (kind of like if you've ever done popcorn on the stove)

Transfer the mussels to a large bowl and pour over those delicious juices.

Grab the bread, a couple of lemon wedges and grab your friends! ENJOY!

Seafood Spaghetti with crispy garlic breadcrumb topping

There is something so satisfying about enjoying a fabulous lunch and knowing that it was whipped up entirely of leftovers.  This sort of food really excites me.

This dish came together from the leftover mussels I had steamed over the weekend, you can check out my easy saffron steamed mussels here and all that goodness that went into the original recipe like saffron, garlic, tomato, and stock got tossed with a fresh batch of boiled spaghetti and then just to take things to another level I sprinkled some of this crispy homemade garlic bread crumbs over top  (also made from leftover) 

To make the bread crumbs: 

Add some bread to the processor and  pulse until it's fine.  (Pulse a clove of garlic with it until it * disappears*)

I used the most unexpected bread that I had in the fridge from the night before, those large wheat flatbreads that come with the Afghan grilled Tikka and Rice dish from the restaurant.   Really did not know where it was going to go but other than spongy white "Bread" (toast bread, wonderbread? I don't eat this stuff, not even sure why it's in my fridge) I had nothing else on hand. 

Fortunately for me the Afghan flatbread was truly fabulous and crisped up beautifully when added to the sautee pan  with olive oil.

The smell from the kitchen was just amazing while toasting up these breadcrumbs.

Anyway, onto the pasta.  Other than the sautee pan it's a one pot meal (If I started out by using the saucepan to toast the breadcrumbs before stewing the sauce it would have truly been a one pot meal)

The sauce just requires a brief cooking of the tomato sauce with some olive oil and a clove of garlic on medium high with the lid on tight.  This will caramelize the small amount of tomato puree very quickly.  Once that smells lovely transfer into a bowl.

Now the kettle water is added to the pot with lots of salt (does not even have to be cleaned/wiped) and the spaghetti is boiled. 

Towards the end of the cooking time I strain the pasta, leaving behind about 2 tbsp of the starchy water and add in the sauce/liquid from the Mussels and let the pasta just suck up all that delicious goodness.

Now all that's left is to toss in those mussels to heat up and then all is added to the tomato sauce and plated.

Garlicy crispy bread goes over top and I'm ready to dig in! 

Crispy bread crumbs :

2 slices of bread

1 small- medium clove garlic

Couple of tbsp of olive oil

Salt 

Pulse bread and garlic until resembles fine crumbs and garlic.  Heat a sautee pan with some olive oil, add crumbs and brown on medium/medium high until toasted.  Season with salt to taste and once they are crisp set aside. 

Sprinkle over pasta or salad, whatever your heart desires! 

Saffron Steamed Mussels

I was at Costco yesterday, for no reason really.  Just decided to drop in and check it out in case they had anything leftover from the holiday season but ended up walking out with those huge tub of live mussels for $10!!!!!

You never quite know where you're going to get inspiration from and so I spent my saturday cooking up these yummy mussels and just enjoying the day.  Such a treat.

Here's a video on how I prepared my mussels as well as the written recipe :)


Hope you're all enjoying your weekend.


Saffron Steamed Mussels


1 medium onion, peeled and diced
2 medium tomatoes, diced
4-5 medium cloves garlic, mined or chopped
4-6 tbsp olive oil

Salt & Pepper

Few strands of saffron "blooming" in about 1/2 cup water, allow to sit 3 hours or overnight
1/2 cup stock (I used chicken)
2 tbsp wine vinegar (or lemon juice)

Boiling water (1/2-1 cup)

1 large tub live mussels (mine are from Costco for $10 as I mentioned above)

1 lemon
4 tbsp chopped parsley

Add olive oil to pot heat on medium.  Sautee garlic until fragrant, add onion and sautee until transclusent.  Add tomato and season with salt and pepper.

Drain mussels from tub and add to the pot.  Pour saffron water over, stock, water and wine vinegar or lemon juice (juice of half a lemon)

Clove lid and steam until mussels open up.

Add mussels to a large serving bowl/platter (remember there will be some liquid with this so a bowl would be more ideal) and sprinkle with parsley, squeeze lemon over and drizzle more olive oil (if desired)

For $10 and with the rest of the ingredients sure to be in your kitchen invite your friends over and you can have a great lunch picking at these yummy mussels and sopping up all that yummy juice with fresh crusty bread.

These were so good that today I enjoyed them all on my own but I'm already planning my next get together because I think this would be a fabulous and easy recipe for friends and family!

After all those mussels I needed a nice cup of tea and here I'm enjoying Main Squeeze - Refreshing Blend Of Orange, Papaya, Pineapple And Energizing Green Yerba Mate from Davids Tea.   All that citrus was perfect after a big seafood meal.

Baby Octopus Stew

Baby octopus stew

This recipe requires only a handful of ingredients and the basics that everyone should have in their kitchen.

- Baby Octopus (fresh or frozen - thawed if frozen)

- Olive oil

- 4-7 garlic cloves, peeled, chopped and mashed using a bit of salt.

- Italian strained tomato sauce


Wash the octopus well. Add to the pot and cover with cold water.. salt the water slightly.

Let it come close to a boil then remove the water and add new cold water and repeat the process.

Once the octopus is tender (and you can cut the tenticles with a fork or poke through it easily) then it's done.

Remove and strain, set aside.

In a pot on medium heat add a few tablespoons of olive oil, add the garlic and as soon as it smells (just a few seconds in) Add the tomato sauce and let it simmer until the garlic is tender (10 minutes or so) Taste for salt and if it needs add some.

Add in the octopus and toss, cover and simmer a little longer until the octopus is tender and the whole thing smells great.

Enjoy!

The exact same stew can be used to make calamari rings, my grandfather used to make it for us this way, you don't need to blanch them in advance though so just poach them in the sauce until they're tender.
Serve with couscous.