My life has been quite chaotic recently, traveling between Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, and Germany since I last posted. Now that I am back in New York, I should find myself with plenty of time for activities such as digital communication and blogging. w00t w00t! So here is a recipe from my travels. Rovinj, Croatia enchanted me thoroughly with its island views, seafood and truffle laced cuisine, and Venetian architecture. On one fine day we made a trip to the fish market to scout the bounty.
After much deliberation, we settled on mussels for our dinner. And the results were phenomenal.
1.5 kilo of mussels
3 cups white wine
3 big cloves garlic (chopped)
3 large tomatoes (chopped)
Olive oil
Pepper
Fresh herbs (parsley, rosemary, sage)
1 box linguine
Be sure to wash each mussel thoroughly. These guys can be full of bacteria, so it's worth the effort to scrub. Also, only use mussels that are closed. If it is open, poke it to see if it closes its shell in reaction. If it doesn't, it is dead, and you do not want to eat it.
Pour the wine into a large pot with a lid. Add garlic, tomato (keep some aside for topping the final dish), fresh herbs, pepper, and a small amount of olive oil to the pot. Let cook over high heat until boiling. Add mussels to pot and cover. When steaming, reduce heat. After about 5 minutes, mussels should begin to open up. Remove each mussel immediately after it opens so as not to over cook it and cause it to be rubbery. Some mussels may take much longer than others to open.
Once all the mussels are open, serve over some al dente linguine and cover with the sauce that the mussels cooked in. The shellfish will release all sorts of juices into this broth, so it will be salty and flavorful and amazing. Be sure to have some bread on hand for sopping it up. Top your linguine and mussels and sauce with some fresh tomatoes and herbs. Adriatic ecstasy.
