Well, well, finally I’ve kicked my butt to write the first post that is long overdue since last year. I’ve taken many pictures of the food I’ve created, so I will post more as I go along. I will be sharing recipes of which some are sourced from the internet and cookbooks, and some of my own. The purpose of this blog is to share the simple and yet tasty recipes with my friends whom most of them have just started a new home or those just started out to learn cooking and baking.
I’ve yet to customise this blog. So stay tuned as I will change the look bit by bit.
Eat more mussels to flex my muscles? Yes? Of course not. But if it can really help build up more muscles, I’ll be glad to eat more. Hee. Ok, enough nonsense.
Mussels are one of the popular shellfish used in many seafood dishes due to it’s nutritional value and excellent taste. And best of all, they are relatively cheap. I bought a whole pack of some 2½ dozen for just $1.60. This feeds 2 person for 2 meals. Sounds economical right? You can either cook them simply by just steaming or boiling, or cook them with flavourful sauces like tomato-based tomato sauce. Eat them with pasta, or served them steamed as an appetizer with some crusty bread. They can also be included in pastas or just topped them on top of paella.
My first attempt of cooking mussels was a success and it tasted really good. And since it’s so delicious, I want to cook it more often but worried about eating too much and having a higher cholesterol. That’s what people always tell us, shellfish like prawns, cockles, clams and mussels are all high in cholesterol. So I surfed around to look at it’s nutritional value.
Upon some research, I found out that mussels are an extra-lean meat, low in sodium, low in fat and cholesterol free, high in protein and heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids. And that when it comes to omega-3 fatty acids found in fish, mussels have more of it than any other shellfish. Mum visited the doctor recently and he said that mussels can lower our cholesterol blood level.
Fat Facts - the Cholesterol Dance from The Epicurean Table.
True: Crustaceans such as prawns, mussels and oysters have high flesh cholesterol. However, this does not raise your own cholesterol levels, and in fact can help lower it. Cholesterol in crustaceans is poorly absorbed anyway and the extreme low fat is a great advantage over other food choices.
False: Prawns, mussels and oysters must be avoided by persons who have high blood cholesterol.
True: What should be avoided are the hydrogenated polyunsaturated fats found in industry food such as margarine and animal fats. Hydrogenated polyunsaturated oil is an industry mask for what it really is - saturated fat created from vegetable oil.
So we can have our mussels and eat it!
Preparing Mussels
Inspect mussels to make sure they are tightly closed. Just before cooking, clean wild mussels by scrubbing with a stiff brush and pulling off the beard with a quick tug. Cultivated mussels need only be rinsed in cold water. To remove meat, either steam open or pry shells open and pick out meat. Those sold at the supermarket are already clean and ready to use.
Buying and Storing Mussels
Fresh mussels smell clean, like the ocean, and the shells of live mussels are tightly closed. If the mussel is slightly open, tap the shell, and a healthy mussel will close it within 30 seconds.
Refrigerate mussels in a bowl, and cover with a damp towel. Never store mussels in water or in an airtight container—either method will kill them. Mussels should be cooked as soon as possible, but keep for up to a week.
We had some prawns, so they goes into the pot with the mussels.
Garlic Steamed Mussels
1 dozen mussels
3 cloves garlic, chopped
½ tablespoon of fresh parsley (halved it if using dried parsley)
a pinch of chilli flakes or some chopped chilli (optional)
½ capsicum (bell pepper, any colour), diced
1 medium tomato, diced
30ml cooking white wine
½ cup of water
1 tbsp olive oil
- Heat olive oil in a saucepan or skillet, saute the garlic until it starts to brown a little.
- Add in the tomato, parsley and chilli flakes.
- Add in the mussels.
- Add water, and lastly the white wine.
- Cover the pan and steam for 5 minutes.
- Turn off the heat and remove the cover.
It was so good that we had it with pasta the next day. Simply just add them to the pasta, toss and serve.
