Mussels with Andouille

So apparently I’ve never written down my base recipe for mussels, one of my favorite things to cook and eat.  This recipe is an easy crowd pleaser served family-style, and is fun luxury for a date.

Ingredients

The rule of thumb when mussels are the main course is one pound per person.  This recipe makes enough broth enough to happily serve 4-6 people, maybe more.  I suppose you could make less broth if cooking for fewer, but then you might miss out on having an excellent leftover soup base.

• 1 or 2 andouille sausage, cooked and diced into roughly quarter-inch cubes (or linguica, chorizo). 1/4 to 1/3 pound total.
• 1 small onion, diced (or 2 shallots or 1 shallot and the whites of a bunch of scallions)
• 1 bulb fennel, diced
• (some halved cherry tomatoes too if you want)
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 stick unsalted butter
• pinch saffron (10ish threads)
• 1.5 to 2 cups chardonnay.  I like the Chateau San Michelle we have out in Washington a lot in this dish (a little sweet, not too much oak, and it makes good drinking too).
• salt to taste
• mussels (1 pound per person)
• greens of a bunch of scallions, 1 inch pieces (for color)
• good bread for dipping

Equipment

• big pot with tight lid for steaming.  You can make this work with a big skillet with deep walls and a lid too.

Preparation

1. Try to buy mussels the day you’re going to cook them, but people say they’ll keep for a day in a dry bowl in the fridge under a wet paper towel.
2. If the sausage isn’t pre-cooked, cook the sausage and reserve a tablespoon of the fat.  Then cube.
3. Rinse and soak mussels under cold water for a couple minutes to remove grit. Shortly before cooking, de-beard the mussels.
4. In a big pot with a tight fitting lid over medium heat, brown the sausage cubes in their own fat or tiny amount of butter.
5. After sausage starts to brown, add onions and saute for a minute or two. Add a pinch of salt and add butter as needed.
6. Add fennel and saute for a minute or two.
7. Add garlic and give things a good stir.
8. Add (remainder of) stick of butter, stir it in as it melts.
9. Add a pinch of saffron and stir it all about. A little goes a long way. My best guess is I put in about 10 threads, maybe a little more.
10. Add 1.5 to 2 cups of wine (you’re already drinking some, right?). Turn up the heat and boil until the alcohol smell is diminished (2ish minutes for me).
11. Taste and add salt if necessary (a pinch at a time, stir and taste).  You want it to taste a bit under-salted because the mussels add their own, but you don’t want the broth to taste totally flat at this stage.
12. Add in the mussels and the scallion greens, put the lid on, and steam for 3 to 5 minutes.  Once most of the mussels are open wide, it’s done.
13. Transfer to a big serving bowl, let rest for a few minutes to come to a tastier temperature, and enjoy with lots of bread!

Leftovers

If you have leftover broth, there’s a great soup base waiting.

1. With any leftover mussels, pluck the meats out and set aside. They’re good in a salad.
2. There’s a lot of flavor on the mussel shells, so take the leftover shells (minus any mussels that didn’t open), and put them in the big pot with the leftover broth and about 1 to 2 times as much water.
3. Boil everything for a few minutes with the lid on.
4. Discard the shells and use the broth for soups or whatever.

Soup ideas

1. This last time, we made a soup with more andouille cubes, scallions, kale, and grated parmesan.  This went great as an opener for a lemony butter garlic pasta.
2. This would also make an excellent tortellini soup base.
3. The next night, we shifted it with a little soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic, and a little sweet paprika and white pepper, served alongside rice.

Enjoy!

“Spanish” rice and Sausage

2 posts in 1 day? Mon Dieu!

I’ve been trying to shake off a rut of making the same things I always make (and eating out too much).  I also don’t make many good rice dishes, especially ones that reheat well.  So I got the idea I’d like some hearty “Spanish” rice.  I have no idea who I would offend if I took away the quotes, but it came out pretty great.  H/T to Martha (and Lu) for getting me started. Here ya go.

Calorie Estimate: 2300

Ingredients

• 3 T cooking oil
• 1 onion, diced
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1 red bell pepper, diced 1/4″
• 1 lb. smoked sausage, sliced into bite-size rounds (“fully cooked” hot links or andouille, (or kielbasa, portuguese, lop cheong(?)….))
• 1 1/2 cups rice (white, light brown)
• 2 cups chicken broth/stock
• 2 cups water
• 8 oz can tomato sauce
• 1 t ground red pepper
• 2 t white (or black) pepper
• 2 t ground cumin
• 1.5 T dried oregano
• salt to taste
• (You should also keep at least 2 cups of water near a boil in case the rice is slow to cook, especially if not using white rice.)

Preparation

1. In a large (12″, walls at least 2.5″ high) skillet, sautee the onions and garlic in the oil.  Add a small pinch of salt to start releasing the water.
2. After a few minutes, add the sausage rounds and diced bell pepper.  Sautee until the sausage starts to brown.
3. Add in spices and seasoning and cook the spices for a couple minutes.
4. Add in the tomato sauce and cook a few minutes.
5. Fold in the rice.
6. Mix in broth and 2 cups water. Lower the heat to a simmer (between 1 and 2 on my stove), stirring occasionally.
7. Simmer until the rice is cooked.  If it’s starting to dry out before the rice finishes, add water a half-cup at a time like a risotto until it’s done.  Salt to taste (although I doubt you’ll need more).

Note: I used a light brown Thai rice (brand Aroy-D Extra Quality AAA) and needed to add about 1.5 cups of water from the hot water pot.  Somehow this took 90 minutes from start to finish.  I should consider using a covered cooking vessel next time.

Excellent dinner: leek and potato soup with roasted vegetables and lamb sausage

Here’s a reminder for myself for the great dinner I had tonight.  Leek and potato soup (the alternate version), roasted root vegetables, and a lamb sausage from Uli’s.  Roasted vegetables and the sausage are easy.  The winner was the soup, which was awesome, light, complex, and very flavorful.  It turns out a vegetable soup with roasted sweet and yellow potatoes is a delicious combo.  Everything compliments, and the dish is quite healthy while feeling very rich.  I’ve got a couple more days of this left, and I’m looking forward to them!

Great lunch: chard and sausage over polenta

No one part of this meal was new to me, but the total came together fantastically.  I had one leftover cooked italian sausage, sliced thin, mixed into pan-wilted greens to crisp as the greens cook, served over polenta (minus the parmesan because I need to go cheese shopping, plus a little extra olive oil and Hungarian hot paprika (I’m American, I can get away with paprika in polenta!)), with a drizzle of excellent balsamic vinegar on top.  Healthy, beautiful to look at, and delicious.

Calorie Estimate: 700

That’s all, no prep stuff.  The recipes are in the links.  I just wanted to record the whole package before I forget it.

Sausage and Tortellini soup

Calorie Estimate: 1800

Ingredients

• 1 lb italian sausage meat, broken into bite-sized pieces
• 9 oz package tortellini
• 1 14oz can of diced tomatoes
• 1/2-1/3 lb mushrooms, brown/portobello, bite-sized pieces
• 1 zucchini, 1/3 inch dice
• 1 carrot, 1/3 inch dice
• 1 green bell pepper, 1/3 inch dice
• 1 onion, diced
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 5 cups beef broth
• 1 T olive oil, if needed
• salt, pepper, italian seasonings to taste
• splash of balsamic vinegar

Preparation

1. Heat a deep soup pan over medium heat.  Dump the sausage meat in and break it up into bite-sized pieces with a wooden spoon.  Brown for a few minutes.
2. Dice all the veggies while the sausage is browning.  Add in onion and garlic, and extra oil if needed.  Cook for a few minutes.
3. Add in the mushrooms, the rest of the veggies, the canned tomatoes, and the broth.
4. Season a bit.  About 1 T dried basil, 1/2 T oregano, 1/2 T black pepper, etc.  Don’t overdo it now, tweak it later.
5. Cook for about 3o minutes until veggies are tender.
6. Add in tortellini and cook for 10 minutes.  Adjust seasoning during this time.
7. Take it off the heat and let it rest.  Perhaps in the bowl, add in a little fresh parmesan or pecorino cheese.  Also add in a splash of balsamic vinegar for a special touch of sweetness and tang.

Sausage and greens

From the Molto Mario Contadino episode.  Serve along side bruschetta or something like that.

Calories: 2-300 per sausage

Ingredients

• sausage
• greens
• a little onion or leeks
• 1 clove garlic
• splash of white wine
• splash of olive oil

Preparation

1. Cook sausage on stove top in skillet (line around the edge of the skillet), with a little extra olive oil.  Poke the sausages before cooking to let some of the fat drain out (normally taboo, but you’ll see where we’re going).
2. After the sausages have released a good amount of fat, drop a couple cloves of minced garlic in the middle.  Add greens (broccoli rabe, leeks, cabbage, etc) and toss. Add stalky greens a little earlier than any leafy ones. Greens will give up moisture.  Move then around to pick up brown bits from the pan.  Salt to taste.
3. When sausages and greens are done, remove to a plate.  To the skillet, add a splash of dry white wine, lemon juice, and maybe a splash more of olive oil.  Stir out the browned bits and drizzle over the greens.

Meal Salad (800-900 calories)

Salad mix, dressing, cheese, bread, protein (smoked salmon, chicken breast, flank steak, sausage, etc; about 350 calories)

Seafood gumbo (Creole stew)

This is not officially lazy as it took me almost eight years to zero in on the correct way to do it, but now that I have done all that work and it was not my recipe to begin with, I feel that the world needs it.  Really, this gumbo will make the world a better place, or at least you will feel that way when you smell it and dig in.  Tribute to the late Charles Hebert Sr.-

Ingredients

Roux

-1/3 c. butter

-1/3 c. oil

Plus as much flour as that will take, get the oils warm (low heat) and slowly whisk in the flour and just leave it on the back burner whisking occasionally.  A roux developes over time it will go through several colors – pale yellow, amber, brick, brown and then all of a sudden burnt to a stinking mass of garbage.  Stop this one at brick.  It will also get thinner as it sits there and the cooking will accelerate.  Watch it.

4 medium Andouille sausages (NOT CHICKEN!)

1 lb. raw shrimp (I love rock shrimp for this  but they are highly seasonal)

3/4 c. each – celery, sweet onion chopped finely

several cloves of garlic

one package (15 oz. I believe) frozen okra (unfortunately in Seattle you will never find fresh)

1 can black-eyed peas

1 can tomato sauce

1 tsp. or so each – Paprika, cayenne pepper, thyme, black pepper, 1/2 tsp. celery salt, three bay leaves, dash Worcestershire (DASH), Dave’s Temporary Insanity to heat as needed

Peal and chop up the sausage into bite sized pieces.  Place in a skillet over medium-high heat and start browning, it doesn’t need to fully cook.  Add the shrimp without draining (any fishy liquid will actually be great in this).  Again, they don’t need to fully cook.

At the same time, get the fresh veggies and garlic  in a deep pot with some olive oil and start getting them soft over medium-high heat.

Whenever you can’t take the aroma of the sausage-shrimp mixture any more, add about a cup of chicken stock and bring up to barely boiling.  Make sure to scrape the bottom of the pan.

Mix everything.  That is to say, add the sausage-shrimp-stock and roux (which ought to be brick colored by now) to the large pot full of soft veggies.  Add the tomato and spices and the black-eyed peas.  If it seems like there is not enough liquid, add enough chicken stock to cover everything.

Let this simmer and thicken, at least one hour if not two if you can stand it.  I think a younger tempranillo or some sort of syrah would be the perfect wine for this.  I will be posting a photo shortly because now I really want to make this.

A little on the lighter side since I got impatient with the roux and stopped it at what might be called “pecan” in roux parlance.