Thursday, March 8
Free Proteins...
Long Island is a paradise for shell fish. Clams and mussels are everywhere; and trust me, seabirds know this fact quite well. Anywhere in which stones and boulders lay on the beach, instead of fine sand, broken shells are laying by the thousands. Because seagulls have this trick of the trade to open clams and mussels: They drop them from high altitude onto those rocks in order to break them apart as to gorge themselves with that free protein inside.Man too can enjoy these God’s gifts. But you know folks around here: “if it ain’t from the store, it ain’t edible”. When I tell folks that I do go “get some mussels”, they look at me like I’m a complete weirdo. Poor people. Have your Tyson chicken, then; for me, I’ll go feed myself on something beautiful, fresh and pure.
If you want to get your mouth on these beautiful Mussels and clams, first, you’ve got to check out the pollution map and the rules and regulations. There, you’ll see a pollution map, a bit like this one:
Then, you’ve got to wait for the tide to go down just a little bit from its maximum, because mussels tend to shut close keeping within their shell all kind of dirt. If you go for mussels in a low tide, they will still be edible, but you’ll have a heck of a hard time to clean them.
Clams are just the opposite. They spit their dirt away before closing up. Therefore, they’re always clean. Clams live further away from the beach, however. Thus, you'll have to wait for the tide to reach its lower point before probing the sand for some….
How to cook fresh mussels:
- In a big cooking pot that has a cover, - preferably a glass cover, so you can see the mussels opening (really fun !) - heat a bit of oil and a teaspoon of butter.
- Add half of an onion ( or shallots ) cut in small cubes.
- Toss all the mussels inside, previously cleaned with great care.
- Add a full glass of extra-dry white wine.
- Let it simmer about 4 minutes more.
- Drain the mussels out, but keep the juice.
- Toss a good amount of fresh cilantro over the mussels.
- Squiz the juice of a half lemon into the juice.
- Pour back the juice onto the mussels.
- Serve immediately with crispy hot French fries.
Sebastien Parmentier at 9:44 AM
2 Comments
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at March 19, 2007 at 7:58 AM
Astrid said... It is about that time! miam miam...
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at October 12, 2010 at 11:53 AM
said... MMMMMMHhhhhhhhhhh les moulessssss
6sou Parmentier
