Day 131: shoreline meets bodega

One of these days, I’m going to write a love letter to long pasta. It’s always there for me when I need it most and I feel I owe it, and its creators, equal devotion. But we’ll not get into that today. I have a day ahead full of meetings and friends over for dinner tonight with their kids. (I did get up earlier to write this entry but ended up lost in a feed of pure joy on Twitter. (More on this tomorrow, but you can check out this wonderful thread here)).

Pair long pasta with shellfish and you have one of my favourite things to eat. I was therefore very happy to check the line-up yesterday and see I had everything in for Nigella’s Linguine with Mussels. And I was particularly excited to use sherry in a pasta-based dish; I used it before for the Clams with Chorizo (Day 37) and loved its rich caramelly, barrel-woodiness with the briny juices of the molluscs (and piquancy of the chorizo).

Nigella’s Linguine with Mussels

Now, I always go for fresh mussels. Either from the fresh deli counter in the supermarkets or from my local fishmonger (who is only there on Thursdays and Saturdays), but on this occasion, I used the pre-cooked vacuum packed ones. This, of course, doesn’t beat the fresh ones you cook yourself, but I tell you they weren’t a bad substitute; especially since they just came plain and in the briny juices in which they were originally cooked. After all, that’s where so much of the rejuvenating sweet goodness lies.

To accommodate the ever-so-slight change in cooking times I just added the mussels, and their brine and the sherry, to the sizzling shards of chilli and garlic at the same time as the near-cooked linguine; leaving everything to bubble away for 2-3 minutes, until hot right through. Added the finishing touches. Served.

Flavour musings

Cooking with sherry is still a new taste and smell for me. It’s wonderfully rich and warming; like you just know something good is coming. As much as I love clams, and they are my favourite of the shellfish, I think the umami hit of mussels is far stronger; playing well with the richness of the garlic-and-chilli-imbued sherry. Monday evenings happen to be my least favourite time of the week - perhaps more so than Sunday nights - but Nigella’s Linguine with Mussels provided all the robust comfort and rejuvenating umami that we needed to smile through and prepare for the Tuesday ahead. Enjoyed it with a glass of rosé and we actually felt like we were on holiday. A great escape.