Saturday 27 August 2011

Prepare Basic Aphrodisiac Mussels

This recipe is the starting point for a few mussel dishes with a truly aphrodisiac touch. The mussels as well as the bouillon are suitable for deep freezing; thus, whenever required you can pick a plastic bag of mussels and another of bouillon from the deep freeze, thaw them in the microwave and within minutes prepare a delicious and seductive mussel dish.
Ingredients: 
  1. 3 kilograms (7 lbs) of mussels, cleaned 
  2. 350 grams (12 oz) onion, coarsely chopped 
  3. 300 grams (10 oz) celery, coarsely chopped 
  4. 250 grams (8 oz) shallots, coarsley chopped 
  5. 2 garlic cloves (10-15 grams), finely chopped 
  6. 3 fish bouillon cubes (intended for 750 ml/3 cups of bouillon) 
  7. 1 teaspoon dry thyme leaves 
  8. 1 teaspoon dry basil leaves 
  9. 1 bottle (750 ml) of dry white wine 
  10. 3 grams saffron (the quantity can be reduced) 
Preparation Instruction:
Let the vegetables and the garlic simmer in the white wine for 15-20 minutes in a pan with a volume of 4-6 litres. At a late stage add the thyme and the basil.
Increase the heat, place half of the mussels on top of the vegetables and let them steam until they have opened. This should take about 5 minutes.
Remove the steamed mussels using a perforated ladle and set them apart. Place the remaining half of the mussels on top of the vegetables and let them steam for another five minutes until they all have opened. Remove them and add them to the first mussel batch.
Sieve the liquid to remove the vegetables, let the sieved bouillon boil for 5-10 minutes to reduce the volume somewhat, then leave it to cool. When cool, add the saffron.
Remove the mussels from the shells. Keep them separated from the bouillon.
Now you have the starting materials for a number of delicious dishes, e.g. mussel soup, diet mussel soup, mussel pasta sauce and mussel risotto. You can put the mussels and the bouillon in the deep-freeze for use later on; if so we suggest you pack in separate plastic bags about 100 grams of mussels per bag and 250 ml (1 cup) of bouillon) per bag. Otherwise you can use the ingredients almost immediately, but remember that the saffron will require a few hours to merge with the bouillon!

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