I was skeptical about cooking Mussels & Chorizo for this week’s French Fridays with Dorie. This is a dish with every ingredient and flavour I love yet my impending training sojourn means I really ought to clear my kitchen of perishables instead of buying more fresh items. That sensibility was torn at the same time by the urge to cook along with the group for just another week before I have no access to my beloved home kitchen. Neither of those two arguments was louder than the other. In the end, it was my inability to refuse a good deal that gave me such a beautiful meal.
Succulent mussels and smoky chunks of chorizo sausages were steamed in a tomato broth fortified with roasted red pepper, fennel, onion, garlic, Pernod, and Aleppo pepper. It was a dish that kept on giving. On day one, I enjoyed a finger-licking feast of plates piled high with mussels in their shells. Every sip of the flavourful broth warmed my body from the inside. On the second day, leftovers turned into a light sauce to toss with tangles of spaghetti. Plump mussels were extracted from the shell and generously studded the pasta dish. It was the most luxurious post-run recovery meal I enjoyed in a long time.
Seafood is not a regular purchase for me because I don’t easily trust the quality of the counter at most typical grocery stores. I don’t have one of those coveted VIP-customer relationship with any fishmonger so I dread buying seafood. More precisely, I dread paying premium prices for subpar quality. But when I saw those gigantic 6lb boxes of mussels at Costco selling for $10.99, I wavered. Every box had the packaged date clearly on display and the mussels certainly looked good from the outside. I took the chance and very glad I did.
Out of 6lb of mussels, there were only 5 dead ones at final tally. That was a pretty good batting average especially for the attractive price tag! Aside from the two dishes I described, I also used some to make paella. It was a weekend filled with great food at my house.
I took some creative liberty with the recipe with my choice of roasted red pepper, fennel, and Pernod. The anise flavour was borrowed from classic bouillabaisse but also my lack of white wine at home. I used one third of the amount called for in the recipe and diluted the liquor with Japanese dashi. Obviously it would make more sense to use fish stock or even clam juice but dashi is a staple at my house. The taste of kombu and bonito certainly says ocean. Besides, the convenience is hard to beat. At this time of the year, fresh sweet pepper is so expensive that I avoid buying any unless I absolutely have to. Jarred roasted red pepper is a wonderful pantry staple that I turn to. For this recipe, it worked marvellously lending its signature sweet and smoky taste.
From the looks of the March recipe nomination, I’m afraid I will not be able to cook along with other French Fridays with Dorie bloggers. I will be cooking out of a bachelor’s kitchen without all my usual kitchen conveniences. Limitations are fun challenges and I’m sure cooking will continue to play a large part of my day when I’m not training. However, for my French Fridays fix, I’ll have to live vicariously through your writings and photos until my return in April! You too can live vicariously through everyone’s posts about this week’s mussels and chorizo.
