September Cooking Tunes

As the bright sunshine of summer fades into the lambent light of fall, I fondly recall days of our youth spent at the shore in Bethany Beach.  It was 1974 and our parents had just purchased a lot in Bayside Hamlet, hiring an architect to draft the building plans.  The ground was officially broken that spring and as construction proceeded into the early summer, I remember being awakened before sunrise in Northern VA, piling into the family’s 1962 maroon Benz with a kid sleeping on every seat and floor board.  That would be 5 slots taken, plus extras if a friend or cousin came along for the trip. The promise of hot cinnamon donuts in Grasonville, MD danced through my dreams and became a reality 90 minutes into the trip. 

We arrived at the frame of our summer home, dropped off our sleeping bags and headed straight to the beach.  It was still early in the morning, probably about 9:00 AM. Coming over the crest of the dunes, I can still see the sun’s rays glittering off the incoming waves of the Atlantic. 

After a day spent rollicking in the waves, paddle ball on the shore and a picnic followed by a nap induced by the lull of the incoming waves, we returned to the (frame of) the beach house. The outdoor shower in perfectly good working order, Mom usually had some type of cooler filled with the remains of our picnic, supplemented by salad, and if we were lucky, a trip to the boardwalk for Grotto’s pizza and a frozen custard.

We would continue this camping routine for a few months until a kitchen was installed, and then our nightly feasts became a bit more elaborate. My brother James discovered he had a propensity for digging up mussels from the bay, and so after a day at the beach he would grab a crab pot and digging utensils (our sand shovels, the ones with teeth) and lead the expedition of 5 or 6 kids down to the bay of Indian River Inlet.

We would pick mussels straight out of the bay and proudly bring them home:  Accompanied by Silver Queen corn, summer’s finest tomatoes, and baby bliss potatoes, this was a feast fit for a forager.

Make sure to read through the recipe all the way to the end, gathering your ingredients and cooking utensils, serving bowls and place settings before you start the fun stuff!

Mussels Marinières Recipe

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Moules Marinières or Sailor’s mussels, is a quintessentially classic French dish that comes together in your cookware around 15 minutes from start to finish. Make sure to serve it with the rest of the wine left in the bottle and plenty of toasted bread for dipping into the garlicky, briny broth.

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 small leek, white and light green parts only, thinly sliced
• 1 small shallot, thinly sliced
• 4 medium cloves garlic, thinly sliced
• 2 bay leaves
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 cup white wine
• 2 pounds mussels (see note)
• 1 tablespoon juice and 1 teaspoon grated zest from 1 lemon
• 3 tablespoons minced fresh parsley leaves
• 1 loaf rustic sourdough bread, thickly sliced, drizzled with olive oil, and broiled until heavily toasted

Directions

1. Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a large saucepan over medium-low heat. Add leeks, shallot, garlic, and bay leave. Season lightly with salt and heavily with black pepper and cook, stirring, until vegetables are very soft but not browned, about 10 minutes.
2. Increase heat to high and add wine. Bring to a boil and let reduce by half, about 2 minutes. Add mussels, stir, cover, and cook, shaking pan constantly and peeking every 30 seconds to stir. As soon as all the mussels are open, transfer mussels to a bowl using tongs. Place pan lid over bowl to keep mussels warm.
3. Remove from heat and whisk in remaining butter, then add parsley, lemon juice, and lemon zest, stir to combine.  Return mussels to pot, toss in sauce then transfer to a warm serving bowl. Serve immediately with broiled bread.

Note: Examine mussels before using. If they’re gritty or have lots of beards (it’ll look like bits of hair coming out from between their shells), scrub them well under cold water and pull out the beards by grabbing them and pulling towards the hinge-end of the mussels. Discard and cracked mussels or open mussels that don’t close when tapped with another mussel.