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!)  

Mixed Paella

Paella, which has its origins in Valencia, is a very grateful dish. I really enjoy preparing it, serving it and eating it. You can make it with whatever you like (rabbit, chicken, shellfish, sausage, frogs or snails). Served in a big paella pan it looks and smells fabulous and it's a great dish to dig in with the whole family. There are many different types of paella, but this one has everything I like in it.

Serves 6

- good splash of olive oil

- 1 onion, finely chopped

- 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

- 600 g semi-long grain rice or short grain rice (like risotto rice)

- about 0,8 l stock

- 6 chicken drumsticks

- 1 red pepper, chopped

- 1-2 g saffron

- 1 small and thin dry sausage like a dry salami, cut in thick coin sized slices

- 2 tomatoes, deseeded and chopped- 2 handfuls of peas (frozen will do)

- (15 mussels)

- 12-15 big prawns
- handful of parsley, finely chopped
- pepper, salt

- 1 lemon, cut in wedges

If possible use a big paella pan. This is a wide, shallow, thin base pan. If you don't have a paella pan, just use a big frying pan or a wok.

Start with sauteing onions and garlic on medium heat in some olive oil. When translucent add chopped red pepper and rice and stir until it's coated with oil.

Add some ladlesful of stock and stir. Let it come to a gentle boil and when all the fluid has been absorbed, add some more stock.

Roast your saffron in a dry hot pan. Then crumble it in the rice an stir.

In the meantime fry the seasoned chicken in a separate pan and keep warm (in some aluminum foil or on low heat in the oven) when crispy.

When the rice is close to being "al dente" add the sausage.

Fry the seasoned prawns in some olive oil.

Cook the mussels in their shells.

A few minutes before serving, add peas and tomato.

Taste and, if necessary, season with salt and pepper.

A few minutes later stir in tomato and peas.

Finish off with the chopped parsley.

Arrange drum sticks, prawns, mussels and lemon on top of the rice and serve. 

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.

White Asparagus with ham, egg and new potatoes

This dish is one of my all time favorites. Although it is not so much a recipe, more a combination of cooked items, it is definitely a great combination! In the Netherlands the season for Dutch white asparagus is starting soon (the season is roughly from half of April until half of June). I found them here in South Africa once or twice in November, but I have no idea where they came from. Anyway, they looked delicious and of course I had to prepare them our traditional way.

Serves 4:

- 1,5 kg white asparagus (thickest you can find!)

- 1 tsp sugar
- 6 eggs
- 400 g ham
- 1,5 kg new/baby potatoes, skin on
- a stick of butter, don't be shy
- salt 
- (grated nutmeg)

Ok, this is very easy. Peel the asparagus (with a special peeler), holding them flat on a cutting board (be careful not to break them) and cut about 1 cm off the end. Boil the strips of peel and the ends for 15 minutes in a pan with a liter of water with a bit of sugar and salt. Keep the asparagus in a bowl of cold water until needed.
Discard peel and ends, keep the liquid to boil the asparagus in.
Boil asparagus for 5 minutes in the asparagus liquid, remove from fire and leave them with the lid on the pan for about 15 to 20 minutes.
In the mean time, boil the potatoes in their skin for about 20 minutes, boil the eggs for 8 minutes, melt the butter on low heat in a pan and arrange cold ham slices in rolls on a plate.
Peel the eggs and arrange them on the plate with the ham.
Drain the asparagus and lay them on a plate with a cotton kitchen towel.
Serve with the potatoes, butter, salt and freshly grated nutmeg.

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.

Slow roast Leg of Lamb with Rosemary, Sweet Cloves of Garlic, Anchovies and Lemon with a Vegetable Jus

- 1 leg of lamb, bone-in (about 2 kilo's, serves 6)

- 1 tin anchovies

- 1 salted lemon, chopped
- 1 handful of rosemary
- about 5 garlic cloves, peeled and halved
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- splash of water or wine
- pepper and salt
- 5 shallots or 2 onions
- 2 carrots
- 2 small potatoes, cut in four
- 2 celery sticks
- thyme
- handful of cherry tomatoes
- 1 tbsp honey

Before starting the preparation of your leg of lamb, let the meat come to room temperature first (this can take a couple of hours).
Make small but deep cuts with a knife and fill half of the pockets with some rosemary and garlic and the other half with anchovies and lemon. Just use your finger to push it inside and close the flesh afterwards. Rub your lamb with some olive oil and then with salt and pepper.
You need a casserole that is big enough for the whole leg. Add some olive oil to the casserole and, on the stove, brown the lamb all over. Take the leg out and saute the carrots, onions, celery and potatoes for a few minutes. Add thyme and a splash of white wine or water and put the lamb on top. Put the casserole with the lid on in a preheated oven (160 °C) and leave it there for four hours.
Half an hour before the dish is ready add some cherry tomatoes and honey and return to the oven for 30 minutes. Take casserole out of the oven en let the meat rest for about 15 minutes.
While the meat is resting, put the liquid (if there's a fatty layer on top, spoon it off first -I use my new very useful kitchen tool: the fat separator-) and the vegetables in a blender, puree and strain. The result is aromatic succulent piece of lamb and a light but creamy jus.

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.