{"id":431,"date":"2012-03-05T18:20:22","date_gmt":"2012-03-05T18:20:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ginnyang.com\/?p=431"},"modified":"2012-12-13T16:40:57","modified_gmt":"2012-12-13T16:40:57","slug":"mussels-with-a-white-wine-and-fennel-broth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ginnyang.com\/?p=431","title":{"rendered":"Mussels with a White Wine and Fennel Broth"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>This is my version of “Moules Marinieres”.\u00a0 Moules Marinieres is quite simply, white wine, cream, shallots and herbs.\u00a0 There’s nothing wrong with simplicity, it is a great way to do mussels but I want to add something extra!\u00a0 By adding some celery and fennel to the mix we give can make a sharp(er) aromatic tasting broth.<\/p>\n

This can be made as a starter, served in small bowls or as a main course.\u00a0 It takes very little time to make.\u00a0 Cleaning, sorting and debearding mussels will be the most time-consuming thing in this recipe; It took me and the other half about an hour to sort through 2kg of mussels but it can be done quicker with more experience (it was my first time cooking with fresh mussels).\u00a0 To clean a mussel, just pull off the beard, lightly wash off any dirt with an old toothbrush and most importantly, don’t leave the mussels sitting in tap water, it will kill them.<\/p>\n

To avoid the often mentioned seafood poisoning the rule is this:\u00a0 Tap an open mussel on a hard surface (chopping board or whatever) and if it closes up, it is alive.\u00a0 If it doesn’t move, chuck it – it’s dead.\u00a0 Once you are done cooking, any mussels that don’t open up, are also dead, so don’t try to eat those.\u00a0 Mussels with broken shells are also likely to be dead, if in doubt chuck them.\u00a0 Lastly a word on farmed vs wild mussels; farmed mussels are just as good as the wild ones.\u00a0 Mussel farming is one of the best things we have done for the ocean, they clean up the oceans and they are less likely to be subjected to high levels of mercury.<\/p>\n

If you are preparing mussels ahead of time, just wash them and then leave them in a bowl, stick them in the fridge and give them a final tap just before using to check that they are still alive.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ingredients (Serves 2 as a main):<\/strong><\/p>\n

2kg Mussels (prep’d)<\/p>\n

750ml Dry White Wine<\/p>\n

500ml Fish Stock<\/p>\n

250ml Single Cream<\/p>\n

125g Unsalted Butter<\/p>\n

5 Ribs of Celery<\/p>\n

4 Shallots<\/p>\n

2 Bulbs of Fennel + Fronds<\/p>\n

1 Whole Bulb of Garlic<\/p>\n

2 tbsp Flat Leaf Parsley + extra for garnishing<\/p>\n

Extra Virgin Olive Oil<\/p>\n

Salt & Pepper<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Method:<\/strong><\/p>\n

1.\u00a0 Start by preparing the vegetables.\u00a0 Dice the garlic and shallots; slice up the celery and fennel, keeping the fronds aside for now; slice the butter.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0 Using a large pot over a medium heat, put in a couple tablespoons of oil then add in the shallots and butter.<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0 As the shallots begin to soften, add in the celery and fennel along with some salt and pepper.<\/p>\n

4.\u00a0 Once all the vegetables have softened, add in the white wine and allow to reduce by half.<\/p>\n

5.\u00a0 Add in the fish stock and chopped parsley, set heat to high.<\/p>\n

6.\u00a0 Once the broth begins to boil add in the mussels.\u00a0 If you can’t fit them all in or if there isn’t enough broth to cover them all, add them in batches using a net or sieve to suspend them in the pot and allow easy removal for the next batch.<\/p>\n

7.\u00a0 When the mussels open (about 3-4 mins) they are done.\u00a0 Remove them from the broth and reserve.<\/p>\n

8.\u00a0 Check the broth for seasoning, then allow it to reduce slightly.\u00a0 Add in the cream and stir.<\/p>\n

9.\u00a0 Spoon ladles of the broth over the mussels, garnish with parsley and serve.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Tips:<\/strong><\/p>\n

You can buy mussels that have already been cleaned and prepared, all you have to do is get them home, check they are still alive and cook them.<\/p>\n

The white wine, cream and butter combination can be the base for almost any mussel sauce or even as a seafood stew.<\/p>\n

Serve with some chips or “frites” for some good traditional Belgian food.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is my version of “Moules Marinieres”.\u00a0 Moules Marinieres is quite simply, white wine, cream, shallots and herbs.\u00a0 There’s nothing wrong with simplicity, it is a great way to do mussels but I want to add something extra!\u00a0 By adding some celery and fennel to the mix we give can make a sharp(er) aromatic tasting broth. This can be made as a starter, served in small bowls or as a main course.\u00a0 It takes very[…]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":441,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[34,37,5,38,19],"tags":[49,46],"class_list":["post-431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gluten","category-main","category-recipes","category-starter","category-west","tag-creamy","tag-seafood"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/ginnyang.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/IMAG0144.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1PTCG-6X","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ginnyang.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ginnyang.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ginnyang.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ginnyang.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ginnyang.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=431"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/ginnyang.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":820,"href":"https:\/\/ginnyang.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431\/revisions\/820"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ginnyang.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/441"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ginnyang.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ginnyang.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ginnyang.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}