Fresh Mussels steamed in dark Beer

Where we live, in between Johannesburg and Pretoria and hundreds of kms from the sea, it's quit difficult to find fresh mussels. It's a pitty, because I really do LOVE them and NEED them. We have eaten them once in a restaurant on 4th Avenue in Joburg. Two weeks ago at the Food Lovers Market here in Centurion I found them and I was over the moon. I bought the whole batch and took the little darlings home. Later on I found out that Bazaruto fishmarket sells them on order, but you have to take 5 kg, so I'm thinking of ordering 10 kg and throwing a big mussel party for all my mussel loving friends very soon!! If you can't find live mussels, forget about the whole thing (please don't even try, it will be a very big dissapointment), frozen mussels are not an option: they are dead and therefore rubbery and chewy.

You will need about 3/4 to1 kg fresh mussels per person. The shells have to be closed, or close when you tap them. Throw away open or broken shells. Wash them under running water, take the barnacles attached to the shells off with a sharp knife, as well as the beards (hairy dark green stuff), that might still be on some of them. 

One tip if you are still in the process of trying to like mussels: do not open and have a look inside the mussel itself, it will probably put you off eating it... Not my 5 year old girl however, she is attracted to the strangest looking food and will eat or at least try anything!

Serves 4 (main course):

- 3 kg - 4 kg live mussels

- 1 tbsp olive oil- 1 onion, finely chopped

- handful of flatleaf parsley, finely chopped

- 1 stalk celery, finely chopped

- 1 (0.33 l) bottle of dark (Belgian) beer

- 2 cups water

- salt and pepper to taste  

In a musselpan (or just a high, big, not to heavy pan with a lid) saute onion for a minute in a splash of olive oil or butter. Add mussels, beer, water, parsley and celery and boil/steam for a few minutes, until all the shells have opened (shake the pan a few times to check this). As soon as the shells are open, serve in the pan with frieten (fries) or crusty bread and some dipsauces (mayonaise garlic dip, chutney curry dip, herb dip, etc). Don't forget to eat the delicious beer soup you will end up with! (Afterwards, you can save the soup, reduce it to 1/3 and, with a little cream, turn it in to a delicious pasta sauce!)  

Gazpacho (Cold Spanish Vegetable Soup)

This refreshing cold soup is very easy to make. Also a good option to make a day in advance.

Serves 4:

- 6 tomatoes

- 1 big cucumber

- 1 big red pepper

- 1/2 onion

- 1 clove garlic

- 1 stalk celery

- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

- 2 tbsp wine vinegar

- 1/2 red chili, deseeded and chopped

- 1 cup water

- salt

- pepper

Put all the ingredients except salt and pepper in a blender (you may need to do this in batches if you use a hand blender) and process until smooth. Season and refrigerate for at least an hour. Serve cold with chopped pepper, onion, celery, tomato, cucumber (or just one of these) and garlic croutons.

For the garlic croutons: cut some white bread into small chunks, sprinkle with olive oil, chopped garlic, parsley and salt. Fry the pieces of bread over medium heat in a dry pan until golden and crispy (stir continuously to prevent burning!). Serve immediately or let cool down and keep in an airtight container.

Herby Quinoa and Plum Salad

Quinoa is a nutty flavoured seed from the South American Andes and it has been used for over 6000 years. I use quinoa in this recipe, but it can easily be replaced by bulgur wheat or couscous. The herbs, plums and dressing in this fresh and healthy salad go really well together.

Serves 4:

Salad:

- 250 g quinoa

- 2 cups water

- 1 small onion, finely chopped

- 1 garlic clove, finely chopped

- 3 tbsp olive oil

- 6 tbsp lemon juice

- handful of parsley, finely chopped
- handful of mint, finely chopped

- 10 plums, depitted and cut in 4

- salt

- pepper

Yoghurt dressing:

- 150 ml yoghurt

- squeeze of ketchup

- chives, finely chopped
- 1 small clove of garlic, finely chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon chili powder 

Soak the quinoa for about an hour and resoak or rinse it very well under running water while rubbing it with your fingers to get rid of the natural bitter soapy coating (saponin). Drain. 
In a pan with the water bring it to a boil, cover with a lid and simmer for 12-15 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to sit for 5 minutes with the lid still on. Fluff with a fork and let cool for 30 minutes, then transfer to a salad bowl.
Mix in the onion, garlic, parsley, mint, oil and lemon juice.
Season with salt and pepper.
Add the plum wedges and refrigerate for at least half an hour.
Mix the ingredients for the yoghurt dressing in a small bowl.
Serve the salad piled up on a big serving plate with the dressing in a little bowl on the side.

Home grown Seed Sprouts

Sprouting is great. Sprouting seeds at home is easy, cheap and healthy.

Most unprocessed seeds, pulses, grains, or nuts can be sprouted, but some are easier than others to sprout (avoid kidney beans, these are toxic). Be sure to use (preferably organic) seeds that are meant for consumption, not for planting as the latter can be chemically treated. Pulses, grains and nuts need soaking, seeds sprout easily without soaking them first. Bean sprouts need to be cooked before you can eat them, the rest can be eaten raw. About a year ago I found a seed sprouter that works really well for me, but you can use a big jar with some cheese cloth or nylon to cover it instead. In my sprouter, because it has three trays, I can grow three different sorts of sprouts at a time. 

The easiest one to sprout is alfalfa. Just put a tablespoon of seeds in one of the sprouting trays and pour a cup of water over it two or three times a day. Within two or three days you will notice that the seeds will start sprouting. Continue watering it for a few more days and your alfalfa sprouts are ready to eat, for example on a whole wheat sandwich with tomato. Other sprouts can be used in salads or stir-fries.

Tips: 
- for soaking, see this soak chart
- don't use too many seeds/pulses, nuts at a time (covering half of the surface of the tray is enough)

- after watering, give the sprouter trays a tap, to get rid of the excess water 

- if you see mold or mildew, discard the batch, clean the sprouting tray well and start over

Sprouts I have been able to grow: alfalfa (never fails), mung beans, fenugreek, barley, flax seed, adzuki beans

More challenging sprouts I'm still trying to grow:  mustard seed, Japanese radish, quinoa, celery

Cold Tomato and Pepper pasta Sauce

This sauce is one of the easiest and most successful pasta sauces and.... the next day you can serve the leftovers as a salad. The combination of hot pasta with this cold sauce with its cooked and raw elements is amazing. It's easy to make in advance, for a lot of people or to serve as side dish for a bbq. I still have to meet the first person that doesn't like this sauce/salad.

Serves 4-6:
- 1/2 kg cherry/plum tomatoes
- 2 red peppers
- 1/2 onion, finely copped
- 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
- 1 tsp sugar
- pinch of salt
- good splash of olive oil
- good splash of red wine vinegar
- (1/2 chili pepper, deseeded and finely chopped)
- handful Italian basil
- grated Parmesan




Cut the red peppers in half (better not use orange or yellow, because the skin doesn't come off as easily as the red pepper skins) and put them under the grill until they are blackened. Immediately, put them in a plastic bag (this will steam the skin off) until cooled down. When cooled, remove from bag (keep the liquid in a salad bowl), peel off the skin and cut into thin slices.
Put half the tomatoes under the grill until they start to burst open. You can roast the peppers and the tomatoes together at the same time, but the tomatoes will be ready much earlier than the peppers. Put them in the salad bowl.
While the tomatoes are still warm add onion, garlic, sugar, salt, vinegar and olive oil.
Add the pepper and the halved rest (the ungrilled part) of the tomatoes.
If you like it hot, add the chili.
Chill. (and put sauce in fridge)
Before serving, stir in the chopped basil.

Serve with (hot!) pasta and freshly shaved or grated Parmesan.

Fragrant Corn soup with Lemon grass

This is a super sweet and creamy (no cream) corn soup with a delicate touch of lemongrass. Worth the try!

- 4 corncobs

- 1 liter milk
- 1/2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1 carrot, chopped
- 1 potato, peeled and chopped
- 1 celery stick, chopped
- 2 lemongrass stems cut in 3
- a few fresh thyme sprigs
- 3 bay leaves
- (1 tbsp butter)
- (chives)


Halve the cobs and cut the kernels from the cobs.
Bring cobs to a boil in a pan with milk. Remove from stove.
Saute onion, carrot, celery and potato in a splash of olive oil for about 3 minutes on medium heat.
Add corn kernels, thyme, lemongrass and bay leaves and saute for another 2 minutes.
Add milk plus cobs and simmer for 30 minutes.
Let it cool down, discard cobs, thyme, bay leaves and lemongrass and puree (with a tablespoon of butter, or without for the healthier version) in a blender. Add some water for a thinner soup.
Pass through a fine sieve and serve hot, sprinkled with chopped chives.

Spicy Pumpkin Soup

This is a super easy and healthy soup. I'm not really a pumpkin fan myself, but this soup is just delicious!

Serves 4:

- about 500 g pumpkin/squash, peeled, deseeded and cut in to chunks
- 1 zucchini (or 2 or 3 baby courgettes), roughly chopped
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1 cm of fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped
- 1 tsp (hot) curry powder
- handful of fresh coriander
- ½ liter water or (vegetable) stock

Brown onion in a pan with some olive oil, add ginger and curry powder, saute for one or two minutes.

Add pumpkin and saute for two minutes more.

Add water or stock and bring to a boil. Let it simmer for about 20 minutes, or until the pumpkin is getting soft.

Add zucchini and simmer for five more minutes.

Turn stove off and let cool a bit, then add half of the coriander and puree in a blender. Serve hot, with some more fresh coriander (and a dollop of yoghurt).

Bbqed king prawns

A couple of weeks ago, we invited some South-African friends over for a bbq (here: braai). South-Africans are very proud of their braai and their meat. South-Africans love meat, lots of meat. I decided to shock their system a bit with a fish braai and it went down very well! These prawns were a big hit. It's all about the marinade and the quality of the prawns. For this recipe you need some big, good quality prawns, the bigger the better.  

Serves 4 :

- 16 raw king or tiger prawns in their shells

- 3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

- 2 tbsp bbq sauce (Heinz)

- 8 tbsp lemon juice

- 1 tbsp olive oil

- bunch of parsley, finely chopped

- 1/4 preserved salted lemons, finely chopped

- sea salt and pepper to taste

Mix all the ingredients except the prawns in a small bowl. Slice each prawn from just under the head to the tail right on the centre of its back. Remove the dark stringy vein that runs across the back, just under the shell and fill the opening with the marinade. Lay the stuffed prawns back up in a container and drizzle the rest of the marinade on top. Marinate for 2 hours or even overnight. Put the prawns on skewers (I use two skewers next to each other -so each prawn is pierced by two skewers- to prevent the prawns from rotating) and put them on the braai for a few minutes on each side. If you don't have a braai, using a grill is fine as well.

Refreshing summer X-mas punch (low GI, non-alcoholic)

This super refreshing punch is a mix of tea, fruit juices and spices. A friend of mine was (although she is slim with an active lifestyle) diagnosed with pre-diabetes 2 a couple of weeks ago. To avoid having to take medicine for diabetes, she is keeping a strict low GI diet. One of the things she served for her birthday tea recently was this beautiful, not sweet at all punch. It’s perfect for a hot summer X-mas day (like we have here in South Africa).

Makes 3 litres:

- 1 cup (250 ml) unsweetened orange juice

- 1 cup unsweetened (cloudy) apple juice
- 8 cups water (or more if you want to make it even less sweet)
- 2 cups unsweetened pineapple juice
- 4 rooibos teabags
- 3 sticks of cinnamon
- 10 cloves
- 1 cm fresh ginger root, grated

Bring water with spices and teabags to a boil. When it starts to boil, turn off the stove after one minute and let infuse and cool for about one hour. Pass through a sieve and mix in the juices. Refrigerate and serve cold.