Yesterday was the second anniversary of my moving this blog here and what could be better to celebrate than a big red bowl full of mussels, bought from the coquillage van from Bouzigues on its Saturday morning visit to the village? After cooking them all in a glass of white wine until the shells had opened, we made two different dishes with them. The first was an adaptation of a recipe in Colman Andrews’s Catalan Cuisine: I cooked some chard leaves, chopped them and added them to the mussels in their half-shells. I made some aioli and added a spoonful of this to each mussel, then put them under the grill until the aioli was bubbling and slightly browned. I wasn’t sure it would work but it did! Colman Andrews uses spinach, adds cream and makes the aioli with roasted garlic. I did try this but it curdled, so I reverted to my usual method with raw garlic crushed with sea salt. I’ll have to make this again, as we ate them so quickly I forgot to photograph them! I did, however, photograph the delicious mussel fritters that Lo Jardinièr made with the rest of the mussels.
He chopped the cooked mussels with a bunch of oregano, then mixed them into a stiff flour and water batter. Then he folded all of that into beaten egg white and fried spoonfuls of the mixture in hot olive oil. Very tasty!
Nice.
The mussels fritters look delicious! I have to confess that I have never seen mussles fritters before! It
Those look amazing!
YUM!!! The first healthy, then tasty 🙂 ! The second tasty, then well . . . sometimes gorgeous 😀 ! Can’t wait to get to the Fishmarket next . . .
I have to confess to not being a huge fan of mussels, but those fritters look like they would go down quite easy. That’s a great way to celebrate. How time does fly, two years already!
Lovely post. The bowl is a delight as are the fritters. I tend to read the Colman Andrews book rather than cook from it:)
^ me too!
I never tire of your beautiful mussel reicpes, just about to post one of my own in fact! I think I need to get hold of this book, have heard good things about it. Love the bowl 🙂
I agree with Tanya (and recommend the book too). I love your mussel recipes – don’t stop! I must start cooking some of them, they all sound so delicious 😉
Mussel fritters – I love this idea! Mmmmm… hungry!!