Under the Sea

I can vividly remember the first time I had mussels because I ordered them by accident.  During Spring break  my senior year I went to fabulous (sarcastic) Lloret de Mar, Spain on a frowned-upon-by-the-school ‘senior trip’.  Two girlfriends and I wandered the streets for a place to eat where we could be as sophisticated as one can be at 17 and sat down at a little restaurant over looking the water.   I ordered the ‘mejillones’ thinking I ordered some kind of fish. Surprise! When the waiter brought our food I was struck with terror. What had I ordered? I closed my eyes for a second, let out a big sigh and forged ahead, tackling the plate of mussels.  And oh they were good! I haven’t had mussels that delicious since. 

On the menu:  Lobster bisque, demo only 
                             Mussels mariniere
                             Mussels soup with saffron
                             Seafood casserole 
                             Shrimp sauteed Louis XVI
                             
On the other hand, the first time I had lobster was pretty uninspiring (in a nut shell: went out to dinner with ex and his family friends and I didn’t know how to tackle the tail and claws and no one showed me how so I said I didn’t like lobster (who doesn’t like lobster!!!??!) and ate bread and butter instead). Like most people,  I do love lobster, especially lobster bisque. Until last night.

I knew there would be killing involved but as a little girl I had seen plenty of that – my grandparents killed chickens on the regular and we slaughtered a pig every winter.  For some reason that never bothered me.  But when Chef Patrice took out two massive lobsters for us to experiment our culinary skills on, my heart started beating a little faster. The poor ugly things were wiggling around until Chef grabbed one by the middle of its body and twisted it – crunch, snap, black blood and guts every where, including Chef’s face. Loud gasp from the audience. I tried to be brave but an “Oh my God” escaped.  By the time he killed the other one I was crying.   

Chef chopped up the body and threw the good parts (tail, claws) in a pot simmering with chicken, fish & veal stock. He removed the guts and eggs and placed in a bowl – we would use it later. What? Eeeww. The part of the lobster that looks like the aliens from “Aliens” was seared and splashed with cognac for flavor, then set aside. In the same pan went the mire poix (onions, garlic, carrots & celery), bay leaves, tarragon and tomato paste. Cooked then combined with weird alien looking body parts and thrown in mixer, yes mixer.  Next the brains, guts & eggs. Try not to gag and mix.  Careful, shell fragments could fly out and hurt you.  The color was vile – imagine an Army green but brighter.  Whisk the mixture in the boullion and let simmer for about 35-40 minutes.

Once done, pass through a strainer and chinois (extremely fine meshed sieve), and thicken with roux (remember, it has to be cold if you’re adding it to hot liquid) and reduced cream.  Taste, season, throw in some cayenne and cognac. Serve. It was good but the only thing I could think of was “there’s brains and guts and eggs in here!!!”.  So clever to sell something that only really has the flavor of lobster as ‘lobster bisque’. 

Mussels mariniereMussels need to be cleaned and de-bearded and checked to see if they are alive.  If one is open, squeeze it and see if it shuts. If it doesn’t, smell it and use it anyways. Yes that’s what Chef Patrice advised and that’s what most restaurants do, I’m sure.  Saute diced shallots, celery and bay leaves in butter first, then add mussels and a few glugs of white wine. Cover and cook for a few minutes until they open. Ta-da! Remove mussels and pour juice all over and you’re done.  You can also reduce the juice with cream and butter and you have a poulette with cream.

Or you can make soup

Once you remove the mussels from their shells, pull off the other little beard they have and set aside. If you’re making a soup or sauce with mussels this little beard gets rubbery and not fun to chew on.  To the jus add some saffron and check seasoning.  Add roux and cream and reduce. Pass through chinois and serve over the mussels and there’s your soup.  Some thinly sliced sauteed fennel would be a nice garnish too.  It was good but I think I prefer mussels straight out of the shell.

Ah, casserole

I love cooking casseroles because you can throw anything and everything in a dish and bake it and call it a “_ casserole”. If you’re making  individual dishes of seafood casserole limit your ingredients to 3 so as not to inundate the palate. In a hot pan saute shallots, add raw scallops (or shrimp or whatever raw ingredient you’re using), season, add splash of cognac and take out and place in a strainer or colander so juice can drain.  Do the same with the remaining ingredients, keeping in mind that if they’re cooked (like the crab and lobster we used last night) you don’t really need to cook them but just add flavor.  Toss together and add some sauteed mushrooms or vegetable of choice and set aside. Pour the  leftover juice in a pan and add some of the bouillion you used for your lobster bisque, or if you don’t have any left, then just skip ahead and reduce with roux and reduced cream.  Season and add the sauce to your seafood medley, then pour into buttered bakind dish and sprinkle with bread crumbs. Pop under the broiler until you get a nice color on top. Ours got a little too much color. But it was good, very good. With a salad or grain it would have been perfect.

Louis XVI

Louis XVI was the king of France (and the only one to be executed) and also the way we sauteed our shrimp last night. No explanation from Chef Patrice on the name but the dish was simple and good.  Shrimp sauteed Louis XVI includes  cleaned shrimp, (tail on) extremely finely chopped onions, extremely finely chopped garlic, crushed peppercorns, dried thyme, and chopped parsley.  Salt shrimp and throw in a hot pan with olive oil. Sear shrimp, get a nice color. Add peppercorns and dried thyme. Add a little more oil if needed and a few pats of butter, then throw in onion and garlic.  A splash of cognac and parsley and you have your Louis. These were good, really gooooood.

Well?

Last night I learned that it will take me a long time to start ordering lobster bisque at restaurants again (because there’s no way in hell I’m killing a lobster). The class just wasn’t my favorite  – not because of the lobster massacre -  but because it just didn’t really do it for me, taste wise.  I kept thinking ‘something is missing’. A vegetable? A grain? Maybe the flavors were too soft, too delicate. I’m not sure what it was but either way, I still remain a shellfish fan.

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