Eating soup with a knife

I love mussels.  My love affair with mussels began in Paris with my first serving of moules et frites, which is basically a pail of steamed mussels accompanied by a small bowl of french fries (although we think of french fries as American, the first word is french after all).  Saying steamed mussels doesn’t quite do it justice, though, as the steaming liquid can be an art composed of varying combinations of white wine, butter, parsley, shallots, olive oil, and/or fennel.  The mussels release their liquid (called liquor, for some reason) and the result is delicious, particularly when a crusty baguette is available to sop up the liquid.

Since one of the things I like to do is to try and create at home meals I’ve enjoyed in restaurants, I made a big bowl of mussels at home and they were great.  Then I came across a Spanish version (replace the butter/oil with sautéed chorizo and omit the parsley and fennel) and that was magnificent. Shortly thereafter, mussels atop linguine became a favorite, although I still go back to the French version time after time (substituting baked Jerusalem artichoke slices for the french fries to reduce calories).

But one thing that the recipes never include is how to eat the mussels. You have a mussel that is still loosely attached to one half of the shell, and that half-shell is still attached to the other half of the shell.  You could, I suppose, do it all with your fingers but that would get real messy real fast.  I don’t know if there is an official technique that French children are taught at an early age, but what I do is to eat them with a knife and spoon.  I don’t know of any other dish where this combination is used. I hold the mussel with the spoon and then use the knife to twist the mussel away from its shell.  The mussel slides into the spoon and the knife carries the shell off to the bowl where you collect empty shells.  Simple and effective.

Recently, when looking for a new soup recipe, I came across Rick Bayless’ Red Chile Seafood Soup in his wonderful Mexican Everyday cookbook. I’ve only made a couple of things  from this cookbook, partly because I haven’t spent a lot of time exploring Mexican food. Over the past few years I’ve experimented quite a bit with Asian foods and have built up a serviceable pantry of specialized ingredients. I don’t have a real strong inclination to build up a special pantry for Mexican ingredients but Bayless’ book doesn’t require a ton of new pantry items. In fact, the only things I had to search for here were dried guajillo chiles and I struck out, settling for a bag of generic dried chiles.

The soup is constructed the same way that a million other soups are constructed. Build a base, puree the base, add the stock, and add the protein.  When you approach it that way, it’s only a couple of extra ingredients that make it Mexican. To start the base, the chiles are seeded and then torn into large pieces and sautéed in hot oil for 30 seconds or so.  The pieces are then removed to a blender with a can of diced tomatoes. Onions and garlic are sautéed in the oil (now infused with chile oil) and then added to the blender.  Then puree the mixture and strain it (I used a french mill). Put the base back in the pot and reduce it.  Add the stock and a starch (I used hominy but potatoes or beans would work), cook until the starch has softened, and add mussels and fish. When the fish is cooked, check the seasoning and adjust with salt, pepper, chile powder, and lime juice. Sprinkle chopped cilantro on top and serve.

The soup was great and I’ll certainly make it again, experimenting with the amount of heat and the amount of lime juice until I get the balance I want. In all honesty, though, this does take more effort to eat than many other soups I’ve made. Not only do you have to have a shell bowl, you get that whole spoon and a knife thing going on as well, and the act of having to separate the mussel from the shell carries a certain splash risk.

It’s worth it, though.

Recipe – Mexican red chile seafood stew

Ingredients

2-3 tbl olive oil

1/2 to 1 oz dried chiles (guajillo, ancho, or others, depending on availability and your attitude towards heat), stemmed, seeded and torn into large pieces

15oz can diced tomatoes

1 white onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, peeled (no need to slice or mince – that’s for the blender)

6 cups chicken or fish broth

25oz can hominy (can substitute 2 15oz cans of beans or 1 lb potatoes in 1/4″ dice)

1 lb mussels

1 lb fish (solid flaky fish like catfish, mahimahi, or halibut)

salt, pepper, chopped cilantro, and lime juice to taste

Directions

Heat the oil in a soup pot or dutch oven to medium.  Add chile pieces and stir constantly for 30 seconds or so until fragrant.  Remove the chile pieces to a blender and add the tomatoes.

Add the onions and garlic to the pot, reduce the heat to medium-low, and cook until the onions are soft, about 7-8 minutes. Add the garlic to the blender.

Puree the mixture in the blender.  Strain by pushing through a medium strainer or running through the medium setting on a french mill.  Put base back in the pot and turn the heat up to medium high.  Stir frequently until the mixture is thick, about 5-6 minutes.  Add the broth and hominy (or potatoes or beans), bring the pot to a boil and then reduce to simmer for 15-20 minutes until the starch has softened.

Test for seasoning and add salt, pepper, and lime juice to taste.

Bring the pot back up to medium high and add the mussels and fish.  Cook until all the mussels have opened and the fish is cooked – this could be anywhere from 3 to 5 minutes.

Spoon into large bowls, sprinkle with cilantro, and serve, with knives and spoons.