For the love of mussels!

When I was in culinary school, I learnt how to make an appetizer called "moules sétoise" and fell in food love!  The recipe hails from a port/resort town called Séte in the Languedoc-Roussillon region of southern France.  I recently made this as an appetizer to bring to a party; it was an absolute hit and scooped up within minutes.

It starts by making a compound butter with garlic, shallots, tomatoes and herbs (just the aroma of this butter makes my mouth water!).  Then spreading the butter onto a steamed mussel (half shell), sprinkling some bread crumbs on top and finishing under the broiler.  The compound butter is extremely versatile and could be slathered on a chicken before roasting in the oven, added to some steamed baby new potatoes, or a pat onto a nice grilled steak for finishing.  I might even try slathering it on my Thanksgiving turkey before roasting it this year!

There is a fair amount of chopping and preparation for this dish.  However, the finished product is so worth the effort and using a food processor to make the compound butter substantially eases the work involved.  Also, I regularly double the compound butter recipe and freeze the left overs.  That way, the next time I want to make this dish I have the wherewithal to do so in the time it takes to defrost.

Here's the recipe:

1 cup (1/2 pound) of unsalted butter at room temperature
2 shallots finely chopped
3 cloves of garlic finely chopped
2 fresh tomatoes de-seeded and chopped into a small dice (I prefer to use the tomato concassé method of removing tomato skin which I will explain below)
2 tablespoons of tomato paste (I hate recipes that don't use the whole tin...  Nonetheless, I freeze what's leftover for the next time I make something like a spaghetti Bolognese).
Handful of chopped parsley (I use Italian flat leaf, but really any parsley will do)
Handful of chopped basil
Pinch of ground fennel seed
2 sprigs of chopped fresh thyme, leaves removed from stalks (or 1 tablespoon of dried thyme)
Large pinch of cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon of salt (or add to taste)
Zest and juice of a lemon
1 1/4 lbs (500g) of fresh mussels scrubbed and cleaned
1/2 cup of dry white wine
1/4 cup of finely ground bread crumbs

Method:

Chop shallots and garlic, set aside.  Melt a couple tablespoons of the butter in a skillet and saute the shallots and garlic until slightly translucent (not browned).  Set aside to cool.

In a large bowl, beat butter, cooled shallot and garlic mixture, tomato paste, chopped herbs, fennel seed, diced fresh tomato, cayenne pepper, salt, lemon zest and lemon juice. Alternatively, this could be done in a food processor by tossing everything in (not already chopped up) and blitz until combined.  However, if you choose to make it in a food processor, leave out the diced tomatoes, garlic and shallots until after you've blended everything.  The butter is not meant to be so well blended that it's completely smooth, but instead have a bit of texture to it.

I like to peel the tomatoes since the skin doesn`t lend much in the way of texture.  This method is referred to as concassé and effectively peels off the tomato skin while leaving the whole tomato intact.  Therefore, bring a saucepan of water to the boil and in the meantime use a very sharp knife to remove the stem and make an x shaped incision on the bottom of the tomato.  Blanche in the boiling water for 30 seconds or so and then plunge into ice water and the skins with easily slide off the tomatoes.  Then cut the tomatoes into four quarters and remove seeds and pulp, then cut into a small dice.

To steam the mussels, add the wine to a large pasta pot, dutch oven or any pot with a secure fitting lid and bring to a simmer.  Clean mussels and remove the beard from each one (each mussel will have stringy bit hanging off of it) by tugging it toward the hinge of the mussel.  I recommend using a clean tea towel to get a firm hold on the beard.  Then plunge all of the mussels into the simmering wine, cover with the lid and let steam for about 5 minutes or until all the mussels have opened.  If you have one or two that won't open, discard them as they most likely aren't safe to eat.  Remove mussels to a cookie sheet lined with some paper towel and cool enough to handle.  Don't forget to save the steaming liquid; it freezes beautifully and there's so much salty delicious flavour in that broth which can be used in a seafood risotto or a chowder.

Once mussels have cooled slightly, remove half of the shell and the loosen the mussel from the connective tissue so the mussel will easily slide from the shell when eaten.  Not to mention, the connective tissue is very much like gristle, making it un-palatable.

Using a butter knife or small offset spatula, spread some of the butter over each mussel and place back onto a cookie or jelly roll tray lined with aluminum foil.

Once all mussels have been buttered, sprinkle each one with some bread crumbs, bake under the broiler for about 3 minutes or until the butter has melted and the bread crumbs are slightly browned.

Bon appetit mes amis!