Emu, THE Natural Alternative™ for the Backyard GrillA hot new food for the outdoor cooking season Fifty years ago you might see the backyard grill in action three times in a year: Memorial Day, Independence Day and Labor Day. Dad would wrestle it out of the garage, knock off the dust and hand Mom...
Frugal Outdoor Cooking
Firing up the grill is a great way to cook in the summer! Here are a few grilling tips and a couple of recipes, too.
For great grilled burgers, form the patty gently. Smashing the meat forces out moisture.
Sear both sides of the...
Italian Cuisine: More Than PastaGo to any family restaurant with Italian dining in mind and you are likely to order chicken parmesan, pasta alfredo, spaghetti and meatballs, or maybe a pizza. It is easy to think that some pasta, some marinara sauce, a crust of Italian bread and a...
Sauces Used in Asian CookingThe sauces used in Asian cooking can be intimidating and confusing when standing in the grocery store. Here is a simple guide to help with what flavors are found in each sauce and what dishes these sauces work best in. Soy Sauce: This is a brown...
Your Oven: Kitchen Ally or Public Enemy Number One?
As Thanksgiving approaches, newspapers, mega-stores, and food producers have recently begun their annual advertising assault to get your turkey dollars. Yet I suspect that huge numbers of people are living in dread and anxiety because they're...
Healthy Seafood Recipie
I try to have a bit of laugh along the way so, humour me try to laugh at my jokes I think their funny and most of all have a great time, and lets start cooking.
If you have any questions or you would like some advice on what is good kitchen equipment, where do you go for good fruit and veg or how to be funny, contact me at
6degrees.net.au
My recipe I am going to give you today is Moules Provencale, (you can say it to all your friends and impress them with your French)
Moules Provencale (Mussels Provencale Style)
Serves 4 as entrée, 2 as main course
You will need, for the Provencale sauce
600gr tinned chopped tomatoes
6 cloves chopped garlic
1 onion finely diced
1 med red chilli diced (seeds in if you like it hot, seeds out it you like it mild)
75ml of white wine
5 tbsp of fennel seed, or 1 small head of fresh fennel about 100-150 gr finely chopped
2tbsp of extra virgin olive oil
½ bunch of basil leaves chopped
3 sprigs of thyme picked or chopped
3 bay leaves (look like eucalyptus leaves well that is what my niece thinks, available in the dry spice isle of the supermarket)
Salt and pepper
Pinch of sugar
Method: Get a heavy based sauce pan heat it up over a medium heat, add your olive oil, diced onion, chilli, garlic and fennel, cook for 1-2 mins until the onion has softened add your white wine, tinned tomatoes, basil, thyme and bay leafs, allow it to come to the boil and simmer for 10-15 mins, season with salt and pepper and a pinch of sugar
For the mussels
2kg of fresh black mussels
1 carrot small dice
½ onion small dice
1 stick of celery small dice
2 cloves of garlic diced
2tbsp olive oil
½ bunch of chopped basil
100ml white wine
150gr of chopped black olives
Method: To clean your mussel (stop smirking), give it a shower under the tap give it a scrub, and don’t forget to give it a manicure by pulling off its beard. Get a heavy based pan with a firm fitting lid and place it on a high heat (if you do not have a pot big enough for your mussel do it two times). We want our mussel to have a really quick hot steamy time. Now after your pan has heated up place your diced vegetables and chopped garlic in the pan quickly give it a mix so
it does not burn, add our white wine and our mussels, quickly put the lid on and leave for a few minutes. If you see it steaming, it means the mussels are having a great time so don’t open the lid and spoil their fun. After a few good minutes all the mussels should be open, add our Provencale sauce black olives and basil. Serve it up heaped up in a big main bowl with a few slices of crunchy wholegrain bread to mop up the beautiful sauce. This recipe is great with some cooked cous cous, a fresh green salad or some cooked spaghetti with some mussels tossed through. Now your'e cooking with gas.
Some handy tips for your mussel….
How do you pick good mussels (besides the ones at the gym)?
- Your mussels should Pick up your mussel and smell it, it should smell fresh like the ocean not like sweaty armpits.
- The mussel should feel heavy, like it should after a good work out
- Ask your fishmonger when he got his mussels (don’t be shy now)
Why would you want good mussels?
- They are low in saturated fat and high in omega 3
- Omega 3 the good fat (sounds funny doesn’t it?). Omega 3 has been linked to reducing inflammation, increasing immune system function, improving blood lipid profile
- Low in sodium
- You can be strong with good mussels, because they are packed with muscle building protein.
- Good for your love mussel (that’s what we hear)
Ps: Robert Lugton is responsible for all the bad jokes in this recipe and would like to apologise for any damage or discomfort caused by these jokes,
Don’t scroll any further there is nothing to zee down here
Told you
Why do it?
That it no more THE END
Okay okay one really bad last joke
What happened to the prawn when he went to disco?
He pulled a mussel and had to go home.
written by Robert Lugton
6degrees.net.au
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
7 years experience now as a chef. I have an avid interest in fitness and nutrition. I am completing a Bachelor of Applied Science in Food Science and Nutrition at the University of Queensland Brisbane Australia.chefrobbie@6degrees.net.au
