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Seafood Sauteé

 
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Gareth



Joined: 29 Jun 2007
Posts: 85
Location: Norwich, Norfolk, UK

PostPosted: Sat Jan 30, 2010 10:55 pm    Post subject: Seafood Sauteé Reply with quote

Seafood Sauteé; or what should have really been my first attempt at a home-made Paella. But as it was me, I forgot to check a recipe, or the ingredients beforehand, so this was an ideal opportunity for me to ad-lib more or less from the off: However, it worked, and was surprisingly tasty with two platefulls polished off in almost record time.


Ingredients: Serves Two

500g of mixed Seafood; we used the frozen one from Iceland which contained: Squid rings, Mussels, Shrimps and Prawns: allow to fully thaw out before cooking.

3 Gloves of Garlic ~~ crushed.

1/2 Red Onion ~~ diced.

1/2 Red Bell Pepper ~~ diced.

100 g Button Mushrooms ~~ diced.

8 Cherry Tomatoes ~~ quartered.

1/2 glass of Ruby Port.

6 Tablespoons of Fruit Vinegar ~~ we used some of our very agreeable Damson Vinegar.

A small pinch of Saffron ~~ steeped in 1/2 cup of warm water for at least 10 minutes.

2 Tablespoons Extra virgin Olive oil.

100g Paella or Rissoto rice.

Fry off the crushed Garlic in the Olive oil in a large sauteé pan, add the onions and soften, add the Peppers, then the mushrooms and tomatoes, continue frying on a high heat as you add the Ruby Port and the Sea food. Bring back to the boil, add the fruit vinegar, and then simmer for 3-4 minutes; add a little water if necessary do not over cook as all that will do is toughen up the Seafood. Add the Steeped Saffron and the water and return to boil. Add the Rice and cover the sautteé pan with a lid. Continue cooking, stirring occosionally until the rice has soaked most of the liquid and is ready.

Serve immediatly on pre-warmed plates, with warm crusty bread, and a decent Bottle of Red wine; We drank a bottle of Broadland Sloe wine with our Seafood simmer.

Simmering away nicely in the sauteé pan:



On the plate and ready to go:



Last edited by Gareth on Tue Feb 02, 2010 10:18 am; edited 1 time in total
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Gareth



Joined: 29 Jun 2007
Posts: 85
Location: Norwich, Norfolk, UK

PostPosted: Mon Feb 01, 2010 10:02 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

What I did not tell you all yesterday, that while I was in Iceland I also picked up a 500g packet of frozen mussels reduced in price to only 50p. After last night's success with the mixed Seafood simmer, Lois & I decided to have the mussels for dimmer this evening.


Mussel Sauteé Ingredients:

500 g Frozen Mussels ~~ allow to fully thaw out before preparing this meal.

A level Teaspoon of Smoked Paprika

200 ml Rosé wine ~~ We used Mateus from Portugal

!/2 Red Onion ~~ finely diced

1 large stick of Celery ~~ finely diced

1/2 Red Bell Pepper ~~ finely diced

A dash of Olive oil

100 ml fresh Milk

Cornflour to thicken.

250 g Baby Green Beans.

Fry off the Onion, Celery and Pepper, then add the Rosé wine and Smoked Paprika. Bring to the boil and add the Mussels and then simmer for 2-3 minutes. Add the baby Green Beans and the milk and bring back to the boil and simmer for another 3-4 minutes. Meanwhile; mix a little more milk with the Cornflour to thicken the ingredients still cooking in the pan, and serve immediately on warmed plates.

We had Garlic roast Potatoes with ours. The Rosé wine and Smoked Paprika really did add a new diamension to this Mussel Sauteé.


Simmering away in the pan:



Ready to eat:




This Rosé, Smoked Paprika and Mussel liquor sauce was too good to waste, so I mopped it up with a slice of wholemeal bread:



Last edited by Gareth on Tue Feb 02, 2010 10:20 am; edited 1 time in total
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Dilbert



Joined: 19 Oct 2007
Posts: 1304
Location: central PA

PostPosted: Mon Feb 01, 2010 12:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

looks good - I;ve seen canned / tinned mussels - not seen them frozen - how did the frozen compare to fresh?
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Gareth



Joined: 29 Jun 2007
Posts: 85
Location: Norwich, Norfolk, UK

PostPosted: Mon Feb 01, 2010 1:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The frozen Mussels compared well to the ones that I have purchased fresh from local fishmongers. The meal did lack that certain something that you obtain from Mussels freshly gathered off the Sea shore.

Cooking live Mussels in their shells in the sauteé along with the other ingredients would have enhanced the meal with the extra depth of flavour, but the frozen mussels did make for a very tasty meal.

I am lucky, as only a few miles up the road I have access to the beaches and some of the best Mussel beds in the North Sea. Brancaster and Holkham beaches and Mussel beds only being about 40 miles away, but Lois & I tend to pick live Shellfish from the beaches a little closer to home: around Bacton, Keswick, Wallcot and Happisburg (pronounced locally as Haze-brurr), which are less than 20 miles, and only a 90 minute bicycle ride from home.
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Dilbert



Joined: 19 Oct 2007
Posts: 1304
Location: central PA

PostPosted: Mon Feb 01, 2010 8:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

that's good info. our market has fresh clams and usually fresh mussels but quite frankly as a serious percentage of the shells are typically cracked open, I just don't quite trust them. . . .

now and then I see "good looking" bags where they are all still "clammed up" and I'll go for it.

we used to live in New England 'on the sea-side' and at low tide could harvest a dinner full - but we're not there anymore [g]

I will keep an eye out for the frozen, because the tinned are just awful!
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Gareth



Joined: 29 Jun 2007
Posts: 85
Location: Norwich, Norfolk, UK

PostPosted: Mon Feb 01, 2010 8:32 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Dilbert wrote:
. our market has fresh clams and usually fresh mussels but quite frankly as a serious percentage of the shells are typically cracked open, I just don't quite trust them. . . .

now and then I see "good looking" bags where they are all still "clammed up" and I'll go for it.


Very Good point!

Avoid shellfish that have damaged or opened shells before you cook them.

When I purchase Mussel and Razor-clams, etc. from either the market or the fishmongers, I like to get my hands into the trays and select my own shellfish.

It is also worth noting that any shells that do not open during cooking need discarding immediately, as this indicates they were alread dead before cooking and very likley harbour one of the nastier food poisioning bugs.
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