Sunday, July 09, 2006
Steamed Mussels the Dutch Way
A friend of mine and I went on a mission today: Find the best possible mussels in Dublin. Our quest took us to Howth, a sleepy little
town northeast of Dublin. My friend had been there before and saw nice-looking mussels in one of the fish shops. Being from the Netherlands she had instantly spotted their potential, but at the time had neither the right ingredients to prepare them nor the people to cook them for. All this changed when her mum visited a few weeks ago and brought all herbs from Amsterdam (no, not of that kind!) that were still missing. So she invited Lofty and me over for dinner this Sunday to test the local shellfish. We gladly accepted - Lofty especially loves mussels and we both agree that the Dutch way of preparing them - steamed quite simply in a mix of wine, herbs and vegetables - is one of the best in the world. And I've never been able to get them quite right. I guess you have to be Dutch to make proper Dutch mussels.Unfortunately, Lofty hurt his back yesterday and could not move all weekend, so my friend and I had to have our little dinner party alone. Never mind, more for us! We started the day with a cup of coffee in her place and then braved the wind and the rain to get to Howth market. Sadly, the market was a bit of a disappointment. Maybe the weather played a part and maybe I expected too much, comparing it in my mind with what is going on in Temple Bar on Saturdays, but the small gathering of stalls selling relatively un-exciting wares would probably disappoint anyone: A few traders of handcrafted jewellery that did not appeal to me, a number of fruit and veg stalls that look no different than what I have on Thomas Street on a daily basis, a guy selling plastic toys, some sweets and cakes, two highly overpriced and understocked (compared to Temple Bar, Liston's or Fallon & Byrne) Mediterranean traders, Dennis Healy with a stall that looks like Temple Bar's poor cousin, a very nice looking, but very expensive baker (up to €5 for a loaf!) and a coffee roaster who tried to convince me that all coffee sold in shops in the EU these days is Fair Trade.
But where the market was lacking, the two fish shops were over-performing. I have not seen such a great selection of gorgeous looking seafood in a long, long time. I would list everything I saw, but the blog would run out of space. They simply had everything: Clams, mussels, cockles, whelks, razor clams (I will have to go back for some of these soon), oysters, prawns of all shapes and sizes, crab, lobster, salmon, tuna, cod, hake, mackerel, shark, swordfish, whole fish, fish fillets, frozen fish, ready-prepared seafood, prawn cocktail... You get the picture. Besides, you could get just about everything you might want to prepare these goodies from oil and vinegar, sauces, dips and mayo to herbs and spices, wine, even a few fine chocolates and the like to complete your meal. I was not sure if I should be happy or sad that I had forgot my wallet at home. I think I should be happy, I would seriously have over-shopped. Instead, we just grabbed some wild mussels and headed home again.
Dinner was great: Mussels, steamed to perfection in that secret Dutch herb mix and a vegetable mix of carrots, onions, leeks and celery, served with freshly baked baguette (ok, we cheated and bought Tesco's part baked) and home-made garlic butter. Unfortunately, I can't share any recipes with you today, because I had the privilege of being waited on. I did not have to lift a finger. But, in case you are interested in it, here is my recipe for steamed mussels, and my recipe for garlic butter can be found here.
Christine at 11:40 pm
