Mussels à La Plancha Food

MUSSELS PROVENCAL

Steps:

• Peel and chop the onion and garlic and set asside. Chop parsley and reserve.
• Clean the mussels and rinse them several times. Reserve in a colander.
• In a large saucepan or on a very hot plancha, heat the olive oil. When the oil is hot but not smoking, add the mussels and all the ingredients.
• Sautée several times until the mussels are open but still moist. Remove from the heat and cover with a lid for 5 minutes, then serve.

SHRIMP AND CLAMS A LA PLANCHA

Steps:

• Melt butter with oil in a large cast-iron skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and cook, stirring, until soft and translucent, about 1 minute. Add shrimp and thyme. Season with salt and pepper; cook until shells change color and start to peel away from shrimp, about 2 to 3 minutes per side. Transfer shrimp to a plate.
• Add sherry to skillet; increase heat to medium-high. Bring to a boil and cook until reduced by half, 1 minute. Add clams. Cover with a lid or foil and cook until clams open, about 5 minutes. Discard any unopened clams. Return shrimp to skillet just to reheat. Serve, with beans and some of their broth, a drizzle of oil, pepper, romesco, and greens.

BLACK SKILLET MUSSELS

Steps:

• Heat a large cast-iron or heavy steel skillet over high heat for about 5 minutes, or until a few drops of water dance across the surface. Add the mussels to the skillet in one layer (your pan may fit more or less than 1 1/2 pounds; use only as many as will fit comfortably or use 2 pans).
• Cook, shaking the pan occasionally, until the mussels begin to open. The mussels are done when they're all open and their juices have run out and evaporated in the hot pan. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and serve immediately, in the pan.
• Variations
• Black Skillet Clams or Oysters: This dish can be made with hardshell clams-littlenecks, cherrystones, or quahogs-or with oysters. (Softshell clams, or steamers, are too sandy for this treatment.) Be sure to wash the shells of any of these mollusks very well and discard any whose shells are open or cracked. As with the mussels, they are done when their shells open.
• To add a slightly different flavor:
• When the mussels begin to open, add 4 cloves of crushed, peeled garlic to the pan, shaking the pan as directed.
• Gently melt 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter in a small saucepan. (If you like, add Tabasco or other hot sauce to taste, along with the juice of a lemon.) Serve it alongside the pan of mussels. To eat, remove a mussel from its shell, dip into the butter, then rub up some of the dried juices from the bottom of the skillet.
• Mussels
• Every year, we see more and more cultivated mussels, most often from Prince Edward Island, which is fast becoming the mussel farming capital of North America. These are easy to clean (almost clean enough to eat without washing, but still worth a quick going over), with very few rejects and plump meat. Wild mussels are far tastier but harder to clean. When cleaning mussels, discard any with broken shells. If the mussels have beards-the hairy vegetative growth that is attached to the shell-trim them off. Those mussels that remain closed after the majority have been steamed open can be pried open with a knife (a butter knife works fine) at the table.

MUSSELS à LA PLANCHA

Steps:

• To make the mussels:
• Prepare grill.
• Preheat a large griddle or 12-inch cast-iron skillet on a rack over very hot coals.
• When griddle or skillet is very hot, add mussels and cook, stirring occasionally if using skillet, until mussels are opened, about 3 minutes. Discard any unopened mussels.
• While mussels are cooking, in a small saucepan heat butter and salsa over moderately high heat until mixture sizzles. Remove pan from heat and stir in lime juice, salt, and epazote.
• Drizzle sauce over mussels.
• To make the salsa:
• Heat a dry comal or flat iron griddle over moderately low heat until hot and pan-roast garlic and tomato, turning them occasionally to ensure even roasting, until browned and soft throughout, about 25 to 30 minutes. Discard garlic skins and tomato stem.
• In a heavy skillet heat oil over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking and, using tongs, fry chiles, 1 or 2 at a time, turning them, until puffed and just beginning to brown, about 10 seconds. Transfer chiles as fried, letting excess oil drip into skillet, to paper towels to drain and, wearing rubber gloves, discard stems.
• In a blender purée garlic, tomato, chiles, water, and salt until very smooth. (Salsa may be made 2 days ahead and chilled, covered.) Makes about 2 cups.