Roughly once a fortnight we cook this dish at home. Sometimes we buy the mussels prepared ( lazy, i know) sometimes not. Sometimes we use double cream, sometimes fresh cream (to feel less guilty) but we always use the most ridiculously large size plates in the house to serve the dish.
There is a shop in London called Buttlers and the nearest one to me is in Angel (Islington) , on my way home from work. We had discussed the possibility of buying enormous pasta plates for a while but they are super expensive and not suited for inner city size kitchens, so we resisted for years. However, one day, we found them half price and so we mounted the courage to go ahead with it and buy them… Another thing to consider is how heavy and bike unfriendly they are and bearing in mind that we have no car… Well, you can imagine how stupid we felt.
Was it worth it? Yes man! It was. Each time we use them is a proper event. Like a mini celebration in our own kitchen, and it is great.
In Japanese culture , crockery is almost as important as the cooking . Your eyes will be the first to enjoy a dish and when you spend time cooking for someone you do want it to look good. My mother in law, who was a tea ceremony teacher, once explained that tea ceremony hosts have a book where they record, in detail , both food and crockery used on the day to make sure that the following did not repeat and that it felt special for the guests. In Britain, there used to be a dinner party book that I heard of, where the host would record attendants and dishes served for the same purpose, but no mention to the crockery that I know of.
Cooking Time: 30 minutes
Quantity: this will serve two people as a main dish.
Ingredients:
2 spoons of olive oil
1 shallot sliced finely
2 pieces of salmon quartered.
200 gr of fresh cream
5 chives finely chopped
1 table spoon of olive oil
1 shallot finely chopped
1 medium garlic finely chopped
25 gr of butter
150 gr of white wine
500 gr of clean mussels (remove all “beards”)
200 gr of tagliateli
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Instructions:
You will be cooking three quick things at once so I would suggest that you boil the water for the pasta as you prepare the ingredients.
Pasta:
Follow the instructions of the pack as each pasta is different. The ideal situation is that the pasta is ready just as you complete the other processes so run in parallel.
Mussels:
In a tall pot sweat the shallot on the olive oil. When softened, add the butter and the garlic.
Then the mussels and the white wine and cover. It will take very little time to cook and you will know they are ready because they will have opened. Do not over cook and do not attempt to open any mussels which might have not opened. (Accept that life is not perfect and move on as eating them may cost you your health )
When ready, set them aside. We normally remove shells from some and leave some with the shell on, around the plate.
If you want to use the sauce on the dish (we do) please bear in mind that mussels might have had sand inside and may have released it during the cooking process. I would therefore advice you that you separate the mussels from the sauce by taking them out. You let the sauce rest for a minute or so and only use the top of the sauce.
Salmon:
Soften the shallots on the oil and add the salmon.
I am not keen on overcooked food as it looses its flavours so, i would say that it is better to do this on a slow heat to avoid drying the fish out or breaking it.
When cooked add the cream and cook for a minute or so.
Putting the dish together:
Add the mussel sauce (as described above) and the peeled mussels to the salmon and mix. Flavours will come together.
At this stage you can mix with the pasta and serve.
Finish the dish with the mussels on shell and sprinkling the chives on the top of each dish.
Photograph by Cristina Lanz-Azcarate
Recipe by Toru Saeki
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