No. 20 - Pulling a Mussel in Belgium!

I was so excited about being able to eat chips and them being an actual national dish, meaning that I didn’t have to pretend or twist a countries national dish to suit myself! Rice and beans, beans and rice - I cannot deal with the disappointment of researching another country and finding out that their national dish is beans and rice anymore. Mussels and chips, I can deal with. Get in Europe!  Not to mention, I was able to continue on my hunter-gatherer buzz and go scavenging for the mussels on the beach. There were no Kodak moments due to fear of muddy hands mucking up the camera. It has had a rough time over the past couple of years, a few nasty falls and one particular dunk into a pint of Carlsberg.  Cautious me.  However despite my caution on the beach, in my hurried frenzy to dive into my bowl of mussels and chips, I ended up dunking it into the mayonnaise. I would have taken a photo of that too but, well, you know.

Moules et Frites

Not your average chip and by far the poshest, and most time consuming fish and chips I have ever, and will ever make.  Mussels and chips sound simple, but when you gather, scrub, debeard, soak and scrub again the mussels yourself, not to mention soak, dry, fry once, cool and then fry again the chips - it takes  all day. But these chips are unbelievable and definitely worth the effort. Wikipedia informs me that Belgium boasts having invented the chip in 1680 - when the rivers froze over and they couldn’t catch any fish they fried sticks of potato instead. Thus Belgium’s chips are supposedly the best in the world and I think  that these particular ones are definite contenders. They take chips very seriously  and rightly so. I was of the opinion that you should just leave chips to the professionals i.e. chippers  – they know chips. Not anymore, these chips far surpassed any takeaway I’ve ever had. Golden and crisp on the outside, soft and fluffy on the inside – they were absolute perfection. Oh, the joy of chips.

That brings me to the mussels and what can I about those? Mussels are mussels and I love them, especially with white wine and garlic. That lovely salty juice is a perfect accompaniment to the perfect chip. The chips really did steal the show. Don’t believe me? Then make them.

Serves 4

Moules

2 kg mussels, debearded , soaked and scrubbed.

1 glass of white wine

2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

50g unsalted butter

bunch of parsley, chopped

black pepper

Put the mussels in a pot with the white wine. Cover and bring the wine to a boil and  then simmer for a view minutes until the mussels are all open. Remove the mussels and set aside. Strain the liquid through a sieve and return to the pan.  Throw in the garlic, pepper and whisk in the butte and half the parsley. Get yourself four bowls and fill them with mussels. Ladle on the juices  and sprinkle with the remaining parsley and serve with a wedge of lemon and the frites.

Frites

8 – 10 potatoes, peeled and cut into chips

oil for deep frying

salt

Soak the chips in cold water for half an hour to remove the starch. Dry them thoroughly on a tea towel.

Heat oil to 130 degrees (I didn’t have a deep fat fryer so had to heat the oil in a wok and just guessed the temperature) . Fry the chips in two batches until the potato is completely cooked through but not browned. Set to drain on kitchen paper and allow to cool.

Once the chips have cooled, heat the oil again, this time to the higher temperature of 190 degrees. Fry the chips in two batches like before. This time the chips will turn a golden brown colour.  Once golden and crispy, drain on kitchen paper and serve with a sprinkling of salt and mayonnaise. Un-believable!