Cooking: Les moules et les frites avec l'aïoli

I haven't posted for a while, so hello and thanks for reading!

Here's another reason to love my neighbourhood – I love my new-ish (opened in 2010) local fishmongers Fin & Flounder (71 Broadway Market, London E8 4PH Tel: 0783 8018395). Their seafood are sustainably caught, reasonably priced and the guys are very knowledgeable despite they're all young. What I like about them is that they bring back the nostalgia of a local fishmonger – a bit of chit chat, they are passionate about what they do and their enthusiasm to get to know their customers even if it's by means of Twitter.



Last week, I dreamt of a big bowl of Moules Frites. On Saturday, I went down to Broadway Market to purchase some mussels from Fin & Flounder. I had no time to make my own sourdough bread that day (it needs some premeditation – I need to plan and prepare at least a day before making one, it really deserves its own post) so I went to E5 Bakehouse for it, it was hot off the oven too! One stop shop, I can get everything in my hood! London Fields was absolutely heaving, the Lobsters were out but sadly left all their rubbish behind when I return from my run in the evening. Shame on them!



This recipe takes on a bit of Nigella/Delia approach. It's okay to cheat a little, sometimes. These oven frites are a much easier and healthy alternative to deep frying or double frying chips. I don't have the patience on this occassion and it's too much work deep frying frankly. Oh, the aïoli is also lazy made too.

Recipe Serves 1



For Frites:
2 medium sized yellow fleshed or russet potatoes
1-2 tablespoon olive oil
4 sprigs fresh thyme, or 1 1/2 teaspoons dried
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper

1. Preheat oven to 425ºF/200ºC. Leave the skin on, cut potatoes lengthwise into thick slices, then into 1/2-inch-by-1/2-inch-thick strips. Place them in a bowl of cold water until ready to use. Drain and dry proper on kitchen towels.
   
2. Toss potatoes with oil and spread out on a baking sheet / roasting pan. Scatter thyme sprigs over potatoes. Bake for 25 to 35 minutes, turning occasionally, until potatoes are brown and crisp on all sides. Meanwhile prepare mussels (see below instruction 1 for Moules Marinière)
   
3. Remove from oven, discard thyme stems (the leaves will have fallen off), sprinkle with sea salt and pepper.

Note: Only cook the mussels when the potatoes are nearly ready, the mussels takes no time to cook! If you're twirling thumbs looking for things to do, then it's a good time to prepare the aïoli.




For Lazy Aïoli:
1 small clove of garlic
1 teaspoon of prepared Coleman's tartar sauce
3 teaspoon of store-bought mayonnaise

1. Press the clove of garlic through a garlic press into a dipping bowl.
   
2. Combine tartar sauce and mayonnaise with the garlic and mix well. Let sit and allows flavour to mingle before serving.

For Moules Marinière:
1/2 lb fresh & live mussels, scrubbed and debearded
(General rule is 1/2 to 1 lb mussels per person but get a few more in case you need to discard some)
1 medium finely minced shallot
4 sprigs of thyme
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
Small knob of butter
1 small glass of white wine of choice
Pinch of coarse sea salt

1. Preparing mussels: DO NOT soak them in water, this will kill them because they live in sea water! Give each mussel a little tab to see if it closes, if it doesn't, it's dead. Discard. If its shell is cracked, discard. Use a scrub pad or brush to give the mussels a good scrub. Remove any barnacles if necessarily. To debeard, pull the beard towards the crack joint of the shells, sometimes they can be a bit tough, go on, give it a bit of elbow grease, will ya?
   
2. Put mussels, butter, wine, shallots, salt, and thyme in a medium pot. Cover, and cook over high heat, shaking pot occasionally, until mussels open, about 4 minutes. Discard any unopened shells. Sprinkle with parsley; gently toss. Serve with toasted butter bread.

For more photos and to see my other gastronomic treats, please see my Flickr album.