Day 18: an elixir for the rainy-day blues
I am a huge fan of mussels, in fact I am fond of most shellfish if truth be told, and you will often see a repetitious photo posted across my Instagram account every time I make them. However, the way in which I make them rarely strays far from the inclusion of white wine, shallots, garlic, cream, parsley and chives - more commonly known as moules marinière (or my version thereof). This one track way of thinking does not just apply to when I make them at home but also when I order them in a restaurant or pub, often choosing to veer away from their tomato-based, or Thai-scented counterparts. This rather too narrow-minded tendency to stick with what is familiar is never going to reveal outstanding new flavours and new ways of cooking.
I was therefore quite delighted when I first saw today’s pick on the At My Table TV show a few years ago, and indeed many times when flicking through the book since, but I just never remembered to try them. So, now seemed as good a time as ever to try Nigella’s Mussels with Pasta and Tomatoes for Day 18 of this 365-day Nigella cookalong.
Nigella’s Mussels with Pasta and Tomatoes
There is not a single ingredient in this that I could not, and now in fact do not, adore. I had never, knowingly, tasted red vermouth let alone bought it and cooked with it, so that was one first for this dish. The next first was the inclusion of tomatoes with mussels, and the final was the exclusion of cream with mussels. I had a very watery, no-cream, version of moules marinière in a restaurant once, which was kind of like fishing for shells in dirty dishwater, but let’s not let my overly critical views of non-dairy dishes cloud judgment here.
I now see clearly beyond my stubborn - “must include dairy” - way of thinking and took great joy in eating my way through a bowl of these mussels, which always look so appealing with their dark blue/blackish shells, their nacreous interior walls and amber-hued, plump tender meat. Always worthy of a picture.
Flavour musings
As I said before, there is nothing for me to dislike about this. I was sceptical, at first, about a non-creamy sauce for mussels, but the addition of their liquor into the bubbling red vermouth put all doubts to rest. Slurping down the warm and daintily-spiced umami broth, along with delicate the ditalini, was an elixir for the rainy-day blues.
