Mussels ~ How to Clean Them

I love mussels!

But to make them at home, you have to know how to clean them.

It's easy!



First you have to start by purchasing fresh mussels.

There should be a tag on every bag of mussels you buy.

There are two dates on the bag, the Harvest Date and the Wet Storage Harvest Date.



The Harvest Date is the date they were taken from where they were grown. The Wet Storage Harvest Date is the date they were removed from the filtered seawater tanks they were stored in to be shipped to your fish monger.

Ideally you should prepare them, 2 - 3 days past the Wet Storage Storage Harvest Date. But as long as they've been moist and cold, you're good up to 10 days past that date.

When I get them home, I open the bag and rinse them in cold water.


Then I pour them into a large bowl, and cover them with ice and place them in the fridge until I'm ready to make them. I always buy them the day I plan to prepare them.



When you're transferring them to the bowl, check for any broken shells and throw those mussels away.

It's a little hard to see in the pic.. but there's a big crack in this one.


Another broken one...


Ok... It's later the same day and I'm ready to cook my mussels. Start about an hour ahead of time.

Put the mussels in a big bucket of cold water. I throw some ice in it too.


Let it rest for a while. The mussels will expel sand into the water.

They don't do this quietly. SoulPatch got curious when he heard the gurgly, bubbly, burps coming from the water.




After a little while, remove the mussels from the bucket, dump the water, be sure there is no sand left in the bucket, put in fresh water and a little more ice. Add the mussels back to the fresh water.



By removing the mussels from the bucket, you're not pouring the sand that has settled to the bottom over the mussels.

Repeat until the water is mostly clear.








Ok... mostly clear... now it's time to remove the beards.

The beards are the bristly fibers the mussels use to cling on to whatever it they cling to while they grow.

I usually use needle nose pliers for this, but I couldn't find them, so I just used the regular ones.

Just grab the beard tightly, close to the shell and pull it off.


You should physically touch every mussel. If a mussel is open and doesn't close tightly when you tap it, it's dead. If it's dead it will make you sick. Throw it away. It's normal to have a couple of those per bag.

This one closed up nicely.




Now you should have a nice fresh cleaned batch of mussels ready to use in your favorite recipes!

Amazing Shrimp Marinade

My friend, Erin & I had been dying for grilled shrimp for quite a while. Ericka was in town for the weekend, so I decided it was a perfect time to make it!

I kinda dawdled trying to find a recipe for the marinade. I had looked at a few that looked OK, but nothing looked really great.

So finally... being the procrasti-slacker that I am... the morning of dinner, I jumped online again to look for a marinade.

Not wanting to waste time, I went to allrecipes.com. I found a five star recipe with over 1600 reviews. Even with people reviewing... and changing ALL of the ingredients before they make it, I figured this had to be a good one... and let me tell ya, I was NOT disappointed!!



Marinated Grilled Shrimp
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/3 cup olive oil
1/4 cup tomato sauce
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (more or less to taste)
2 pounds fresh shrimp, peeled and deveined

In a large bowl, stir together the garlic, olive oil, tomato sauce, and red wine vinegar.
Season with basil, salt, and cayenne pepper.
Add shrimp to the bowl, and stir until evenly coated.
Cover, and refrigerate for 30 minutes to 1 hour, stirring once or twice.
Thread shrimp onto skewers, piercing once near the tail and once near the head.
Discard marinade.
Preheat grill for medium heat.
Lightly oil grill grate.
Cook shrimp on preheated grill for 2 to 3 minutes per side, or until opaque.

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So I doubled this recipe. I started with a 5 pound bag of frozen shrimp. (I left a pound in the freezer)

Since I procrasti-slacked, I had to thaw mine in the sink under cold water instead of in the fridge.


Then I set up my peel & clean station in the sink.

Colander filled with thawing shrimp. Empty colander for peeled, cleaned shrimp and a ziplock bag to collect the shells to make stock at a later date.


The shells & legs pull off easily, put them in the ziplock bag.

To devein the shrimp, just slice along the center back, pull out the vein and wash it down the drain.



Now I have a big bag of shrimp shells to make stock!


Just store them in the freezer.

And a big bowl of cleaned shrimps!


Whisk everything together... I added extra cayenne, because we like it spicy...



I put the shrimps and the marinade in a ziplock bag and into the fridge.



After about an hour I skewered them on wooden skewers that had been soaking in water for about an hour.

I put them in a glass baking dish for easy storage until I was ready to grill.


I also poured the leftover marinade over them, since it would still be a little while before I was ready for grilling.

Then onto a pre-heated grill.


Flip


And it's dinner time!


I spiced mine up a good bit, but they weren't too spicy.

These shrimps were a HUGE success. Everyone really really loved them. I can't say enough about how delectably delicious they were!

If you actually have leftovers, which I doubt you will... they'd be awesome on a salad or in a wrap.

Plus they were so easy!!

To BlondiePerez on allrecipes.com.... Well done!!

I'm going to be trying this marinade on chicken, beef and pork!

If you want to leave your dinner guests, ooooing and ahhhhing over your mad culinary skills... I highly recommend you try this!

Paella ~ Coast to Coast Cooking at BakeSpace

Our first Coast to Coast Cooking event at BakeSpace was so much fun, we decided to do it again!

This time it's Paella!

It's something I've been wanting try for a long time! So when Michele suggested it, I was all for it!

I picked bits and pieces from a few different recipes and came up with this.



Paella
2 C arborio rice
3 1/2 C shricken stock (chicken stock w/shrimp shells simmered in it)
15 mussels
15 clams
15 shrimps (*giggle* - sorry Shels!)
2 chorizo links, cooked & cut into bite-sized pieces
2 lbs chicken, cut into bite-sized pieces
1/2 lb pork, diced
1 small green bell pepper, thinly sliced
1 small red bell pepper, thinly sliced
1 small yellow bell pepper, thinly sliced
1 medium onion, diced
3 garlic cloves, diced
1 15 oz can diced tomatoes
2 tsp smoked paprika
1 1/2 tsp cumin
2 fresh rosemary sprigs, needles chopped
3 fresh thyme sprigs, leaves only
salt & pepper
big pinch of saffron
3/4 C peas
olive oil

Preheat oven to 350F.

In a large skillet, saute pork & chicken with garlic, onions and peppers in a little olive oil. Cook until meat is mostly cooked and veggies are tender. Add tomatoes; cook a few more minutes.

Remove meat & veggies from skillet and set aside. Add some more olive oil to the skillet and saute rice for a few minutes. Add rosemary, thyme, cumin, paprika, salt and pepper. Saute another minute. Add shricken stock & saffron.

Bring to a boil; add meat and veggies back to skillet, cook for a couple minutes and stir until well combined. Stir in chorizo, shrimps and peas. Arrange mussels and clams in rice (or just stir them in too)

Bake uncovered 25 - 30 minutes, or until liquid is absorbed and rice is tender.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Saute chicken, pork & veggies.




When the meat is mostly cooked, remove from skillet and set aside.

Add some more olive oil to the skillet and saute the rice.




Add herbs & spices and cook another minute.


Add shricken stock and saffron and bring to a boil.


Add meat & veggies back to skillet, plus chorizo, shrimps & peas.




I didn't 'arrange' my mussels & clams. I kinda tossed them on top with the peas. I think I next time I'd stir them all in.




Bake for 25 - 30 minutes or until all liquid is absorbed and rice is tender.

Blurry... middle of baking pic...


Remove from oven and rest for 5 - 10 minutes before serving.


I thought paella was supposed to be crispy on the bottom... but most of the recipes I looked at called for this baking method. I don't know how it would get crispy in the oven.

I put it back on the stove and cooked it a little, but still didn't end up with bottom crispies. I didn't want to burn it, next time I'll give it a little longer on the stove top.

It was very tasty and everyone liked it.


And had seconds.




This is a keeper... but I still need to figure out the crispy bottom thing.


Maybe I can reheat the leftovers in a skillet and end up with crispies!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Anyway... This wouldn't be Coast to Coast Cooking if I didn't have some other cities checking in!

So... first stop on the Coast to Coast Paella Plane is Danielle in Burbank, California!

Here's Dani's Paella.


Isn't that beautiful?

But this time, you get TWO for the price of ONE!! On our way to Burbank, we made a stop in Mound, Minnesota and Dani picked up BakeSpace Guest Blogger Cathy!!

Here's Cathy's Paella!


Wow!! That looks GREAT!!! Why isn't she blogging more often??

You can see Dani's & Cathy's recipes at Cooking for My Peace of Mind.

And since Jet Blue had their unlimited travel sale this month... we're heading back east to Morris Plains, New Jersey where Michele cooked up her version of Paella!


YUM!! Look at those big pieces of sausage!

Check out Michele's recipe at My Italian Grandmother.

Time to jet back to San Diego, California for Shane's Paella!


WOW!!! What are you waiting for?!!

You can find Shane's recipe at Culinary Alchemy.

Back across the country again... this time we're landing in Rochester, NY to check out Martha's Paella!


Mmmmmm... Scroll down a little when you click HERE to see Martha's post at BakeSpace!

And our final stop on the Coast to Coast Paella Plane is Seward, Alaska for Moni's Paella!


That looks delish!!! You can find Moni's recipe at Alaskan Dermish in the Kitchen!

This was so much fun again!!

Don't you want to cook with us??

Check out Coast to Coast Cooking in the Recipe Swap section of the BakeSpace forum!