Our latest recipe comes from Backcountry.com Gear Guru, Cory Heintz. In addition to providing customers with answers to gear-specific questions and adding comments to BC.com’s site on his personal choices for climbing gear and travel accessories, Cory throws together some stellar dishes with his compact Jetboil cooking system. One such concoction (which just happens to be a BC.com Jetboil Cookoff winner) is a gourmet seafood appetizer that is sure to impress the ramen-slurping crowds in camp.
When cooking fresh mussels, time is crucial, so purchase the shellfish the same day you plan to cook (be sure to do so from a reputable seafood seller with knowledge of the proper handling) and store them in a lightly sealed container in a cold cooler or open container in your fridge. A trusted seafood seller should have live mussels that have a “sea smell” (a strong “fishy” smell is no good) and have a shiny or wet appearance, not dry. When choosing mussels, avoid open, cracked, or broken shells. If the shells have “beards” (or fuzzy little attachments) that’s okay, and actually is a an attribute of wild mussels that have suffered minimal handling. You’ll simply scrub the beards off with a brush (a brand new soft bristle toothbrush is ideal) under trickling cold water just before cooking. Do not submerge fresh mussels in water before cooking as this will kill the tasty creatures.
Ingredients for Gourmet Mussels (2 people):
1 – 1 ½ lb of Mussels (medium-sized shells equate to about 20 individuals per pound)
White wine (Pino Grigio is a great pairing with shellfish)
1 Large shallot or small white onion (diced)
2 Garlic cloves (finely diced)
1 Small tomato (diced)
Olive oil (veg oil works)
Fresh parsley
Sea salt
Ground pepper
Butter
Lemon
COOKING
Almost done!
- Run your burner at medium heat (remember that a open flame cooks hotter/faster than your electric range at home)
- Heat a few tablespoons of oil, add diced shallot (or onion), sauté for a minute
- Add finely chopped garlic, sauté for about 30 seconds, then add wine and heat
- Toss all of the cleaned, closed mussels into the pot, add a good pinch of sea salt & pepper, and cover quickly
- Give the pan a few good shakes
- Check to see if the majority have opened after about 2 minutes
- After 3 minutes, the mussels should be done (discard unopened mussels at this point)
- Spoon the mussels into a bowl and return pan to burner (heat still on)
- Add butter, tomatoes, and some fresh lemon juice (optional) to the liquid
- Crank heat just until butter is fully melted (only a few seconds) and stir
- Pour liquid over the mussels and garnish with some chopped parsley
- Enjoy!
Ready to eat!
Related Posts:
Tags: Camp Chef, camping recipes, cooking, food
The web page really is wonderful. I like browsing it but the truth is, the text seems somewhat strange using the safari word wide web broswer
Like or Dislike:
0 
0