Moules marinières

Moules marinières is a classic French dish and can be found everywhere this time of year, a lot of chefs tweak it to make it their own and this is how I do them. It surprises me that more people do not buy their own fresh mussels and make this dish at home as it takes minutes to cook and is so tasty with a chunk of crusty bread to mop up the sauce. I have cooked this dish many times and I always have had positive feedback.

To prepare the mussels for cooking, scrub and remove their barnacles and their beards, make sure they are clean on the outside, if they are open give them a tap and if they do not start to close then they are dead so discard them, I find you do not need to add salt to this dish as when the mussels cook and open they will release a little salt water themselves.

Debearding Mussels

Ingredients:

1 small bowl of fresh mussels prepared for cooking

20g butter

1 shallot peeled and chopped

1 clove garlic peeled at chopped

150 ml white wine

100 ml double cream

Chopped parsley

To serve:

Lemon wedges

Crusty bread

Method:

Melt the butter on a low heat in a pan that will easily hold all the mussels, once melted add the shallot and garlic and sauté for a minute then turn up the heat add the mussels and white wine then put a tight fitting lid on it.

Cook for 3-4 minutes shaking the pan from time to time so the mussels cook evenly, after 3 minutes remove lid and take out the that still will not open then discard them.

Cover the mussels so they stay hot and then sieve the white wine to remove any grit in the pan, drain half the wine then add the cream and parsley and turn heat on full, boil and slightly reduce the cream then pour the mix over the mussels and garnish with lemon and serve with crusty bread.

The best Ice-cream in Weymouth

So today Izi and I both had a daytime off work together and as it was a lovely day we thought we would take it easy get some ice cream and go and sit on the beach for a bit and relax

 

When it comes to getting an ice cream in Weymouth there really is only one option and that has got to be Rossi’s it tops almost every ice-cream I have ever had not only in Weymouth but on all my travels too.  It’s not like your usual soft scoop or whippy ice-creams and it is made with no eggs, gluten or artificial preservatives.

You can find Rossi’s on the esplanade just across the road from the beach and on a nice sunny day there will always be a little queue, but it is worth the short wait. We went for the natural flavour but it’s always worth checking out what other flavours are on that day such as coconut, coffee, raspberry, pineapple and chocolate which are all amazing and it is worth checking out their Facebook page to keep updated on new daily specials.

Rossis Ice Cream Weymouth 

If you are from Weymouth a regular visitor or it is your first time you would be mad to miss out on a Rossi’s ice-cream you will not be disappointed.

Mystery Shopping

Being such a fan of food and also a great fan of freebies and bargains I was quite excited to hear from one of my closest friends about mystery shopping (also known as secret shopping). In your free time you basically go around to other restaurants/ take away chains and order your meal, ask a few questions take a couple of pictures and answer a few questions and you get a meal for free. Sounds good huh. 

Although the mystery shopping tasks are not all food and the food that they offer are more subway, dominos and chains like wetherspoons, it is a great chance to earn a little money and get some free food or some free clothes or whatever pops up on the ‘available’ tasks.

For example the picture below is of a dominos stuffed crust which I had never had before but when it popped up on the site I thought I would go for it, all I had to do was take a picture of the building and the food and the receipt, then once I had ate it, answer questions such as how clean was the street outside, how was the service, how long did I wait and how was the food.

I also went to a pub close to my house and got to take someone with me and we had a selection of what we could order and on a different assignment if we received great service we had to hand a certificate over which made the girl who served us really happy. I think it is a great idea for businesses to use this tactic as it makes the staff aware that any one of their customers could be a Mystery/secret shopper as getting good service isn’t just nice, it’s a must!

While being a Mystery shopper won’t earn you a living and there may not be a lot of offers you want to do I would still recommend it to anyone who has a bit of spare time on their hands and loves getting things for free. 

Tagliatelle Carbonara

Today I made my own take on tagliatelle Carbonara, it is a dish that is quick to prepare quick to cook and tastes incredible. I used fresh egg pasta and it is such a difference in taste but it still works well with dried pasta, you do not even need to use tagliatelle this is just my own preference as is the mushrooms I put in too, I really hope one of my readers takes the time to try this as it’s a big reward for little effort. 

Ingredients:

1 large handful of fresh tagliatelle

2 thick rashers of bacon cut into reasonably small chunks

2 button mushrooms sliced

1 small handful of parsley chopped

50ml white wine

100ml cream single or double

1 whole egg

Small handful of rocket

A pinch Salt and cracked black pepper

First of all bring a pan of water to the boil with a pinch of salt, then add the fresh pasta and cook for one minute until it is hot then drain into a sieve.

Whilst the pasta is still hot put a pan on medium heat with a splash of olive oil and when hot add the bacon and mushroom, seal off and when bacon is cooked add the chopped parsley.

Next add the hot pasta stir well then add the white wine and reduce down until it has almost fully evaporated.

Then add the cream and cook on a low heat for about 2 minutes then crack an egg into it and stir it and cook it for a further 3-4 minutes, the heat that you are cooking the pasta on will cook the egg, finally grate some parmesan in it, season with salt and cracked black pepper and give a good stir and it is ready to serve.

I like mine with a bit of wild rocked on top with some fresh parmesan shavings, cracked black pepper and some balsamic syrup. Enjoy :)

Thai Crab Cakes

Crab is one of the most popular foods in Weymouth and Portland during the summer months, almost every restaurant, café, bistro etc. will offer crab whether it be just a basic crab sandwich or salad you do not have to go far to find crab on a menu. In fact you can even go down to the harbour and go crab fishing like I have done myself as well as take my nephew as it is great fun for children. Almost every day on my walk down to work I see children and their parents all along the harbour with their crab lines out and walking around showing off their catch of the day.

As well as crab, mackerel is very popular to catch and there is even mackerel fishing trips available down by the harbour, but I’m going to stick to crab for this post as I have decided to share my Thai crab cake recipe with you.

This dish is just a simple starter but the cakes can always be made bigger and into a main course just be sure to adjust cooking times accordingly.

Thai crab cakes ingredients:

1 bowl of crab meat ½ white meat ½ brown meat

1 lemongrass stalk sliced finely

1 small knob of ginger, peeled and grated

2 birds eye chillies finely sliced

1 garlic clove pureed

2 spring onions finely sliced

1 small handful of coriander chopped

3 tablespoons of sweet chilli sauce

1 lime, zest and juice

Breadcrumbs to help bind

Flour, egg and breadcrumbs   to coat

Lime wedges, sweet chilli sauce and coriander to serve

To make just mix all the ingredients for the crab cakes together apart from the breadcrumbs.

Then mix some breadcrumbs in if the mix is a bit wet in texture as it needs to be able to form into cakes, add enough breadcrumbs until the mix is good enough to mould into shape

For my crab cakes I have decided to breadcrumb them but they work just as well if you just wanted to flour them and then shallow fry them, finishing them in the oven if need be, but if you want to breadcrumb them you will need to set up flour, egg wash and breadcrumbs.

First of all mould the shape and size you want and put them in the seasoned flour and lightly cover, then shake off any excess flour, usually I do this too all the cakes then do the egg and breadcrumbs separate or have someone who can help with the egg and breadcrumbs as your hands will get very messy if you do all of it together.

Next it goes into the whisked egg mix then into the breadcrumbs, if you feel that the mix has not got enough breadcrumbs in you could always double pane by dipping the crab cakes back into the egg and then the breadcrumbs again. Once you have done this too all your crab cakes they are ready to cook

Cook the cakes at 170 c for about 6 minutes depending on the size use a temperature probe to check if they are ready, if they are quite big and are going dark on the outside but still not cooked in the middle you could finish them in the oven on a fairly low temperature to ensure they are fully cooked. Once cooked briefly dry on kitchen paper so they are not too greasy and serve. I have decided to serve mine with a little sweet chilli sauce some fresh lime and coriander leaf.