From the restaurant to the home

I was recently in France, and while there was lucky enough to have some delicious seafood.

Mussels, to be more precise.

To some people who know me well this might come as somewhat of a shock.  You see, when I was younger than I am now I was not the biggest fan of seafood (my suspicion is that being raised in a landlocked province didn't help).  With time, however, I have learned that fish is delicious, and find myself cooking it at least once a week.

But anyway.....mussels.

The mussels I had in France were delicious.  They were simply steamed until they opened, and then finished with lots of herbs and butter (of course they were....we were in France).  The mussels I decided to make for myself at home, however, were a touch lighter and had a bit of Italian flair.....

Ingredients
-2 lbs fresh mussels (rinsed, beards removed)
-1 tbsp olive oil
-1 cup sliced yellow onion
-1 cup sliced fennel
-1 clove minced garlic
-2 or 3 tomatoes, chopped
-pinch of red pepper flakes
-lemon zest
-1 cup dry white wine

1) In a large saucepan (that had a tight fitting lid), saute the onions and fennel in olive oil until soft (about 5 minutes).  Add garlic, tomatoes, red pepper flakes, and lemon zest and cook for another 1-2 minutes (until fragrant).

2) Add wine.  Cook for 1-2 minutes, then add mussels.  Cover and steam until they are all open.

Serve with salad, bread, and the remaining wine.  Simple and delicious!

Five simple ingredients, one delicious sauce

Booking a hotel with a kitchen is a great way to save money while on vacation.  Unfortunately, most hotel room kitchens do not come fully stocked with all of the basics that an at-home kitchen contains...creating the potential need to re-invest in many of those basics in order to create delicious meals.  This creates a bit of a conundrum: do I spend money on seasonings to keep the food delicious, or do I save and run the risk of cooking something bland and boring?

Neither.  I have a solution to the problem!

Or rather, I should say, the French have a solution.  The answer is "beurre blanc", an emulsified butter sauce that requires a mere five ingredients:

-dry white wine
-lemon juice
-shallot (or a small onion)
-butter
-salt

(Some recipes also use cream, which helps prevent the sauce from breaking.  I might go this route if I made the sauce again at home, but while on vacation the fewer ingredients I had to buy the better!)

Bonus: This is a sauce that goes particularly well with fish, and fish is a meat that goes particularly well with white wine...meaning that the rest of the bottle won't go to waste.  Also, lemon juice is merely a suggestion...you can really use any kind of citrus (or vinegar) in it's place to change up the flavour.

To make a beurre blanc.....

1) Combine 1/4 cup white wine, 1/4 cup lemon juice, and 2-3 tbsp finely chopped shallot in a small saucepan.

Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and let simmer until the liquid has reduced by about half and has a syrupy consistency.

At this point you may choose to add heavy cream in order to prevent the sauce from breaking.  If you do go that route, add 1/3 cup of heavy cream and bring the mixture back to a boil for 1 minute.  Then continue with the next step.

2) Cut 1 cup of chilled butter into tablespoon sized pieces.  Add butter a few pieces at a time, whisking constantly, and adding new pieces before the the previous ones have completely liquefied.

Don't let the mixture get too hot or else the sauce will break.  To prevent that from happening, lift the pan from the heat occasionally to cool the mixture.

3) Once all of the butter has been added your sauce should have a thick hollandaise-like consistency. Some people like to strain the sauce to remove the shallot, but I don't think that's necessary. (Plus, what kind of fancy hotel kitchen has a medium-mesh sieve?)  Season to taste with salt, and serve warm.

Like I said....delicious with fish!

The quantities given above are only a suggestion, and result in about 1 cup of sauce.  If you don't need that much simply try reducing the quantities by half.  Also, you don't have to use half white wine and half citrus juice: you could just as easily use all white wine or all citrus...it won't change the process, just the flavour of the final sauce.  Feel free to experiment and, as always, enjoy the deliciousness that you have created!!

The basics.

Fact: cooking requires ingredients.  And when you don't have those ingredients lying around it can be hard to motivate yourself to make something from scratch.  But when you do have a set of basic ingredients on hand you can open up just about any cookbook to make yourself a delicious meal.

Here is my list of pantry necessities.

As a base for all baking, flour is a must have.  It's also important for making cream sauces, as well as a number of other applications (I keep both all-purpose and whole wheat flour in my cupboard).  The other important basics for baking are sugar (both white and brown), baking powder, and baking soda.  In addition to those you should keep anything that you find you use regularly...in my case that's ground flax, quick cooking oats, cornmeal, and panko.

I also like to have dry pasta, rice, quinoa, and couscous close at hand.

Tupperware organization optional, but pretty.

The fridge is a bit trickier, since the ingredients kept in here can go bad if not used in short order.  However, there are a number of things that you will find yourself using over and over again, so it's worth stocking up on them on a regular basis.  They are, in no particular order: milk, butter, eggs, dijon mustard, ketchup (which I use as a substitute for tomato paste in most recipes), cheese (hard cheeses keep well), pesto, and your favourite salad dressing.

Seasonings are probably the thing that I have the most of, and that is purely for the sake of variety.  You don't actually need that many for most recipes, and a few basics will get you pretty far.  First, I recommend having both olive and vegetable oils on hand.  Olive oil is great for making vinaigrettes and dressing pasta, but you don't actually want to cook with too much of it at a high heat at much of the flavour is lost.  Vegetable (or canola) oil is what I prefer to use for frying and sauteeing...it has a nice neutral flavour and can handle quite a bit of heat.  You should also have some vinegar (for those vinaigrettes and other sauces)...white wine vinegar will see you through most applications.

Finally: herbs and spices.  Obviously you should have salt and pepper...beyond that it is really a question of preference.  I like to have cumin, ground coriander, and curry powder; red pepper flakes, chili powder, and paprika; basil, oregano, rosemary, and thyme; as well as cinnamon and nutmeg (for dessert and assorted French recipes).

Spice racks are relatively inexpensive to buy, and the labels prevent you from adding chili powder when you should have used nutmeg.....

I also keep lemons in the fridge (for zest and juice), fresh garlic on the counter, and onions in a cool, dark, place.

Now, if that sounds like a long list of things to have in your kitchen that's because it is.  It can be intimidating to think of how many ingredients you need for cooking...but it's all a question of perspective.  Yes you would have to buy those things now...but if you do you also won't need to buy them in the future.  Then, instead of looking at a recipe and seeing a dozen things that you need to buy to cook it you can look at the recipe and only need to pick up an ingredient or two (most likely meat, produce, or dairy).

With that in mind, take a look back to one of the first recipes that I ever posted on this blog......roasted shrimp with broccoli.  If you have the spices and oils on hand you only need to buy two things...and if you're like me and keep shrimp in the freezer then there will only be one item on your shopping list.

Stock up....and get cooking!!