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FRANCE and ITALY do the hustle with fresh cultured MUSSELS. A rustic culinary sophistication was achieved by a few unexpected twists. The flavours from two of my favourite cuisines unite in this amazing seafood dish. The lulling mussels were doing the rumba with... fennel, red pepper and sweet onion. They were waltzed into creamy Roquefort cheese...while the essence of anise liquor...ultimately gathered all partners throughout the dancing skillet. For a detailed post...refer to:
http://www.foodessa.com/2010/12/mussels-fennel-sambuca-roquefort.html
Ingredients
- . 1 bag [2 lbs. (1kg)] fresh water cultured Mussels
- . 2 tbsp. each of olive oil and butter
- . 1 large sweet onion...thinly sliced
- . 1 large red bell pepper...thinly sliced
- . a fennel (interior bulb)...thinly sliced
- . 1 tsp. (5ml) sea salt
- . 1 tsp. (5ml) garlic powder
- . pinch of piment d’espelette (or cayenne pepper)
- . 1/4 tsp. (5ml) each of these dried herbs: ground rosemary, basil, marjoram and tarragon
- . 1 tsp. (5ml) fleur d'ail (or roasted garlic)
- . 1/4 cup (60ml) Sambuca liquor (anise based liquor)
- . 1 tbsp. (15ml) arrowroot flour (cornstarch is fine)
- . 1 cup low fat milk (or up to 10% cooking cream)
- . 1/4 cup (60gr) Roquefort cheese
Directions
- . In a large cleaned bin or sink...place mussels within cold water. Let them soak temporarily.
- . Meanwhile, prepare the thinly sliced onion. Afterwards, in a very large deep skillet or pot...warm the olive oil and butter on medium heat. Saute the onions well. Lower the heat slightly and cover the skillet for about 15 minutes for the caramelization to take place.
- . Back to continuing to prepare the mussels: If there are any visible hairy tufts (beards)...snip them off with a scissor. Note: apparently, tearing them off may damage the interior meaty part. Important: When mussels seem opened...give them a good finger tap to see if they respond by closing back up. If this doesn't happen, it is important to discard these along with any other cracked shelled ones because they are no longer alive. Lightly scrub and rinse the shells under cool running water and place them in a strainer over a bowl of very cold water or ice cubes. They have to remain cold at all times!
- . Back to the cutting of the red pepper and fennel bulb. Once, thinly sliced...add them to the caramelized onions and continue cooking on Medium heat until tender. The salt, garlic(s) and dried herbs should be added now. At this point...pour the Sambuca liquor over the vegetables and let alcohol evaporate for about 1 minute.
- . While the vegetables continue cooking...prepare the creamy cheese mix: In a small bowl, pour a little bit of milk to the arrowroot flour and whisk away the lumps. Add to this, the chunked Roquefort cheese and continue mixing while adding the rest of the milk. Set aside. Raise the heat to medium-high and add the creamy cheese mix to the vegetables. Once the cheese mix comes up to a very low boil...dump all the mussels at once. Give them a good quick stir to blend them in properly. Cover the skillet tightly with lid for about 3 minutes. Afterwards, uncover and give the mussels another quick stir so that the creamy mix integrates itself uniformly. Cover again to cook another 4 minutes until they are all well steamed, opened and slightly loosened from their shells.
- . Be careful not to overcook the mussels because they will disappoint since they will become tough and somewhat dry. Important: When serving...discard any mussels which have not opened. Mussels cooked this way are best served in deep dishes along with crusty bread for dunking into that creamy smooth broth.
- . Bu(o)n appetit(o)...and flavourful wishes from Claudia's kitchen...FOODESSA.com
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December 9, 2010Sambuca and Fennel together?... Glorious! This MUST be glorious! I have to check this out! This just might be the perfect Christmas Eve addition to my Italian feast! YUM!~ As I was growing up in my Italian-American home we always called Sambuca "Italian-a Shuga!" It's a good stuff! :-)
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