Moules frites

I’ve never cooked mussels before, so here we go. Everyday's a school day. A Belgian classic! I bought two kilos in Carrefour on Monday, today is Wednesday.

I watched a video from the BBC on what to do in order to prepare the mussels for the pot. I also phoned my lovely MiL. She suggested soaking the mussels in salted water for an hour – an hour and a half after cleaning them and before cooking them.

I tipped the packets of mussels into a sink of cold water. I wasn’t prepared for what happened next: they gurgled and fizzed. Kinda freaky. And the smell! They smell of the sea! Lovely!

Mussels from Zeeland, via Carrefour

By the time I scrubbed and debearded them, and then discarded any that didn’t shut, I had about one kilo left. I didn’t want to take any chances on getting sick, so any that were even a millimetre open also went into the bin.

I then put them into a large bowl of salted water and put this into the fridge until I was ready to cook them. My MiL said that this would help them disgorge the last of the sand they’d retained.

I used a lot of salt to make the little blighters feel at home

So, for mussels:

•          a good knob of butter
•          1 leek, finely chopped into rings
•          lots of parsley
•          a couple of cloves of garlic, crushed
•          a glass of white wine
•          a dribble of cream.

I have to be honest. I had a glass of wine before starting to steady the nerves. I never drink and cook. I was very nervous about cooking these and about potentially giving Hubs (and I) food poisoning. And cooking something that is alive. eeeeek!

I sweated the leek and garlic in the butter to start off, added the glass of wine and let those get acquainted for about five minutes, before adding the mussels and the chopped parsley. These were cooked for about 3 minutes. I could have cooked them for a minute longer though. At the very end, I added the cream.

The mussels were then plated in a large soup bowl and I reduced the sauce a bit. I served the lot with some oven-cooked homemade chips (chop a couple of peeled spuds into chips, pop them into a sealable bag with a teaspoon of oil, and coat them all. These will cook in about 20 minutes in a very hot oven – like around 210°.

These are all the ones that made it to the table

Only around half of the cooked mussels opened, so of the two kilos I bought, I guess we ended up with around one quarter of them. Hubs and I then had a bit of a confession session: neither of us are big fans of mussels. I can’t stomach the idea of eating the whole lot of anything, like everything. I don’t like offal at all. Regardless of how small it is. And I’m not a fan of all the stringy, rubbery bits that go around the mussel, and the bits that pop out and everything. I think I like the idea of eating mussels and the sense of occasion around them, but I think I’m just not going to cook them again.

But the best news? Neither of us were ill. Result!

Pork and Triple Karmeliet stew

Inspired by the beef and Guinness stew I made a couple of weeks ago, I decided to try a Belgian variation of this using pork fillet and Triple Karmeliet. The results were spectacular, myself saying so, and like any stew, it’s low maintenance to make.

Pork and triple Karmeliet stew

Tripel Karmeliet is one of my favourite beers. It’s a light golden colour, with a large head, smells yeasty yet fresh, and slightly apple-y (I think). It’s got quite a dry taste. It packs quite a punch, at 8.4%.

I find that the cuts often recommended for slow cooking always end up being tough, even after three or four hours on the stove, regardless of the cut or where I bought the meat from, so I used pork fillet. At the end of the day, it's cheaper then making an inedible dish...

We got five servings from this.

A little olive oil

400g pork fillet, chopped into bite-sized chunks

An onion, chopped finely

4 cloves of garlic, crushed

A tablespoon of flour

A bottle of Triple Karmeliet

One stock cube

Salt and pepper

A teaspoon each of savory, fennel seeds and sage

A parsnip
A leek
A carrot or two if you have them (I didn't)

Two or three potatoes per person

Two eating apples ( I used pink ladies)

You could also add a packet of lardons towards the end, but we had none of these.

Heat a little olive oil in a heavy casserole dish such as the Le Creuset one you have in your cupboard that you never find a use for. Once it’s hot, brown off the pork chunks. This will take about 5 minutes.

Remove the meat but leave as much of the oil as you can. If you haven’t got a lot of oil left, add a little more. Reduce the heat and cook your onion and garlic for about 5 minutes, until they get soft.

Put the meat back in and add the flour. Mix it all through the onions and meat until they are coated. Then, slowly add the beer and all the seasonings and herbs. Add the peeled and chopped parsnip, the diced leek and the carrots if you have them. 

Cover with a lid and leave this for about 40 minutes over a low heat, so that the liquid is simmering gently but not bubbling.

After your 40 minutes, and the scrubbed potatoes, nestling them all into the liquid so that they cook. Peel and chop the apples into small chunks and scatter them over the top of the stew. Cover the whole lot with the lid again, and leave for another 30 minutes or so, until the potatoes are cooked. The sauce should have thickened slightly in the cooking process.

Taste your dish and adjust your seasonings if needed. Serve hot, to your appreciative crowd.

Update 14.09.13: I made this again for tonights dinner, using Duvel instead of the Karmelite. It was also good, with a slight bitterness that the Karmelite doesn't have. 

Celebrate Belgian National Day! Shrimp croquettes

To celebrate Belgian National Day this weekend, and taking into account the result of the poll conducted a couple of weeks ago, I made shrimp croquettes last night for dinner. It was a bit of work, and it has to be done over a few hours, but the results were totally worth it. They were miles better than anything I’ve eaten in any restaurant in Belgium (and I’ve had my fair share). Hubby (who’s Belgian) said they were amongst the best he’s ever eaten. High praise indeed!

Shrimp croquettes. 

250g peeled North Sea shrimps

150g butter

150g flour

Salt and pepper

50g of grated cheese

1 egg

250ml of stock

80ml of milk

1 egg

Lots of bread crumbs* - I guess I used about 100g

Lemon

Parsley

So, melt the butter and mix with the flour in a pot. Add the stock bit by bit, mixing well to incorporate it between additions. Bring it to the boil and remove from the heat. 

The sauce. Thick. 

Stir in the grated cheese and the whole egg, together with a good helping of salt and pepper. The sauce should be very thick, but loosen it up a little with the milk. Finish it by mixing in the shrimp.

The sauce with all the goodies in it. Still thick.

Cool the mixture and then store it in the fridge for a few hours or overnight.

A few hours before you’re going to cook the croquettes, wash your hands and take spoonfuls of the mixture, shape it as best you can with your hands. Dip it in the beaten egg and the breadcrumbs and put it on a plate. Keep going til all the mixture is used up – I got 11 large croquettes from all this.

The croquettes, ready to go into the fridge for a bit of a snooze before being fried.

Chill the mixture again for a few hours.

When it’s time to cook, plug your deep fat fryer in and heat it to 180°. When it’s hot, gently drop in the croquettes, one by one. You’ll need to cook these in batches. I was able to cook three at a time. Cook the croquettes for about 4-5 minutes, until brown on the outside.  Drain them in kitchen paper when done.

Serve with a salad and some lemon wedges and parsley. And some Belgian beer of course.

If this sounds like too much work, why not try some Belgian stoemp (that's sausage and mash to you and me).

* I have never seen fresh breadcrumbs for sale here. I've seen dried breadcrumbs - chapelure - though. So, I make my own. Dead simple. Get some day-old bread and cut off the crusts. Cut it into small pieces and mix in a liquidiser for a few seconds. They freeze wonderfully too.