Mussels, in Chickpea-Chorizo Stew, Bloody Mary and Moules Marinieres

As the weather simply fails to concede this year to any less-than-extraordinary predictions, in the midst of Autumn we find ourselves sweltering in a heat worthy of the Mediterranean.  A joy to be obliged to laze in the garden in a mere wisp of clothing with an Hispanic it’s too hot to do anything but… attitude.  An appropriately lengthy and late lunch was necessitated, and as, in late September we are in the first throes of the new Mussel season, a bowl of Mussels was timely.

A brief step to the coast, thronged with sheds-cum-fishmongers baring their latest wares.  Mussels splitting plastic bags for a couple of pounds per kilo of the freshest… indeed these are such common fodder they are to be found stacked on tables beside an honesty box. 

And to have with?  Some chick-peas cooked that morning with Hummus pretensions, a wealth of bursting ripe tomatoes awaiting picking, onions just plaited, Chorizo lazing in the fruitbowl – a stew… and of that sourdough I’ll back something lighter and whiter than the usual fare.

...

Tomato, Chorizo and Chick-Pea Mussel Stew with an almost-white Sourdough

Mussels 1kg; 1 large Onion or several Shallots roughly chopped; 3 cloves Garlic, crushed; chunk of Marrow, peeled and cut small; 5 Tomatoes, peeled using hot water, then chopped; 1tsp Paprika; Chilli, chopped; handful of pre-cooked (or tin) Chick Peas; Olives; Capers; Bay Leaf;  White Wine; Celery/Celeriac tops; Parsley.

Heat Olive Oil in pan.  Add Onion, Garlic, Chorizo, Marrow.  After a few minutes add Tomatoes, Paprika, Chilli.  Then add Chick Peas, Capers (or Nasturtium Capers); a few Olives; a dash of Water or Tomato Juice.  Cook gently for half an hour, adding liquid if necessary. Meanwhile, wash, scrub, beard the Mussels.  Just before eating heat a large pan with ½ inch of White wine, another Onion, Celery and Parsley.  When hot add Mussels, stirring or lidding and shaking.  When opened toss Mussels and a bit of their juice into the tomato stew.  Sharpen with a squeeze of Lemon.  Serve steaming hot with bread, under the shade of an Autumnal tree…

For the bread, I took a Wheat and Rye Sourdough, just risen and ready-to-bake, instead kneaded it up with the same again of Strong White Flour, a tiny sprinkle of dried Yeast.  Rose it in a warm place for a couple of hours, baked hot, ate warm.

Moules Marinières

Fresh Mussels are simply delicious, and don’t really necessitate anything fancy.  The method I used to cook the Mussels themselves, above, is that of a simple, and sensational, Moules Marinieres.  Add a slurp of cream on serving hot.

Bloody Mary Mussels à la Jamie Oliver

I am barely acquainted with Jamie Oliver’s recipes, but when I came across his Bloody Mary Mussels in a magazine last year, was sorely tempted.  They were a cinch and a success.  While I'm on Mussels, I'll share that recipe too:

Ingredients: 300ml Passata; 1 tbsp Worcestchire sauce; 3 heaped tsp grated Horseradish; 1 Chilli, sliced ; ½ head of Celery; 4 cloves of Garlic; splash of Port; good splash of Vodka; 1 Lemon; 2 kg cleaned Mussles; Parsley.

Pour Passata into a jug with Worcestershire Sauce;  Horseradish;  Chilli; 2 or 3 Celery stalks, sliced; crushed Garlic; Port and Vodka.  Stir well.  Squeeze in juice of Lemon and season.

Tip Mussels into hot pan, pour in Bloody Mary mixture.  Put lid on, shake pan and leave Mussels to steam open.  Turn heat up high.  Shake again.  Once all open, remove with slotted spoon.  Reduce and thicken sauce.  Pour over Mussels, drizzle with Olive Oil and scatter with chopped Parsley.

Sourdough Skill-Share

Camilla Storm's lovely pictures of Sourdough Skill-Sharing on Patrick Whitefield's Sustainable Land Use Course at Ragman's Lane Farm in Gloucestershire.

And some comments once back home:

I would like to report a thoroughly successful sour dough experience in my kitchen! I was worried the starter may explode on the hot train journey, but it endured and Doug is fully won over on the lovely loaves :) thanks so much ladies - the mother dough lineage continues! (Cari)

I have also had a great time with the bread, and passed the skill on to my daughters (and blogged about it here should anybody be interested)  and they love the bread and have been extolling its virtues at school! (Jackie)

I have used your sour dough with my conventional process (not wet) and it has worked very well producing a delicious bread. (M)
 
Made up some bread last weekend but managed to badly burn it in the electric oven. Trying again this weekend, in the AGA, after I've cleaned the burner. (R)

Photographs courtesy of Camilla Storm

Sourdough-a-dough-dough

 

Sourdough Muffins chez Ed 'n' Ali

 

Banqueting yester’ eve with permacultural friends, Ali and Ed, so-sadly-so-soon fleeing the county, ‘midst the household gifts offered in flight, (hosepipe, tentpoles, belt, all of utter usefulness) a screw-top jar of: Rye Sourdough Starter.

This starter is reputed to be over twenty years old, gleaned from deepest Russia by Andrew Whitley (of chef-d’oeuvre Bread Matters), gifted through many hands, to now reach my own. 

I have stirred it up (Starter, Organic Rye Flour, Water, Salt) into a very wet mix, and it sits rising downstairs.  Rye is low in gluten so doesn’t have to be kneaded and stretched like high-gluten doughs, and as Mr Whitley says, it turns out like concrete unless it is very wet…

Only a fortnight before had I first tasted this Rye Sourdough, and fallen to my knees in a plea for a fistful of the stuff, on that occasion Ed had solved the issue of wet-sourdough rolls by stuffing the wed-kneaded dough into muffin trays…(see pic)

Slow-risen the flavour develops fully, the Rye has sharp nutty taste and the sourness gives it a real depth, like a blackbread of Eastern Europe.

Last night’s loaves had hollow backs, they had slightly sunk in cooking.  After some amateur troubleshooting we decided the dough had over-risen. 

 

Recognise over-risen sourdough by a very bubbly surface that is starting to drape and looks as though were you to stick your finger in, or shake the loaf-tin, the whole thing would collapse.

Sourdough Share

A furore of sourdough last week…

I have a lovely Wheat/Rye Sourdough, given to me last year by the Clare Island fellows.  It is, unlike my homemade Rye pictured previously, very stoic, and easy to revive even after a couple of months.  The sourdough was passed on to them seven years hence by a German friend, and they have sent it in jars, in pockets, all over Ireland, to the UK and to France.  A nice thought – the fermented dough putting bread on the table the breadth of Europe, perhaps even further abroad… a share much like sharing a good loaf, sat by the hearth…

A very simple recipe, passed over the sea from Clare Island.  Make at night, Bake at dawn.

For two loaves

1 (lg) yogurt pot of Rye

1 yogurt pot of Wholemeal Wheat

¾ yogurt pot of White Wheat

Salt

Water

Seeds (optional)

Add small amount of water to the Sourdough. Stir.

Add wet Sourdough to mixed Flours.

Stir.

Add water to mixture until dry dough.

Add Salt.

Knead briefly and then bring from bowl onto wet surface.

Knead adding water for ten minutes, until the dough becomes a wet, but manageable consistency.

Remove a hunk of dough to act as the successive sourdough.

Leave this in a open jar for between 10-15 hours, until well-risen, then store it, airtight in the fridge until next baking occasion.

Fold/knead seeds into the rest of the dough if desired, I use Pumpkin, Lin, Sunflower seeds for a lovely crunchy, nutty bread.

Put into greased and floured loaf tins.

Leave to rise between 10-15 hours, the warmer and moister the conditions, the faster the bread will rise, the dough should have doubled in size and small geyser-like bubbles appearing on the surface.

Bake at 220C for 20mins then 180C for another 20 mins. 

The bread should knock easily out of the loaf tins.  Now bake the loaves upside down for five to fifteen minutes depending on how thoroughly cooked it is.  This creates a lovely crust.

Knock on the base of the bread, a hollow sound means it is done.

Leave a while, for a day even, particularly if the quantity of rye flour is high, before cutting into as the crumb can be very wet and sticky immediately out of the oven.

Pass the sourdough on!

(Notes on the science of sourdough to follow at another stage)