Mussels and Fennel Seeds
Have you ever prepared a pan full of fresh mussels, only to find that you couldn’t possibly eat them all? Of course you could feed the rest to your cat (and the cat would love you forever) but really, you wanna save some for a spicy and well-filled salad. Dare I even say: a proper bloke’s salad?
Depending on how many mussels you’ve saved, you’ll need some green leaves (I used Iceberg). If you’re a proper bloke, go easy on the leaves but make em stick out so it looks like you got plenty.
Next, get some complementary veg… some firm veg that you can sautee. I’ve used cauliflower and I only cooked it for a couple of minutes, because I love the peppery taste of raw cauli. But you could use shredded raw carrot, sauteed onions, a shredded bulb of fennel of course or even some rösti-ed potato. Just make sure you cut it into bite-sized chunks and get some colour on it in the frying pan. Leave to cool slightly.
Now get your pestle and mortar out. Take a handful of fennel seeds and grind em down to little fibres. The smell will tell you if you’ve crushed the seeds enough. Then add yesterday’s cooked mussels. I must warn you at this point that it is NOT a good idea to keep mussels — even cooked ones — in your fridge for more than a couple of days.
Add the mussels straight to the mortar if it’s big enough. Then start adding fine breadcrumbs and toss, until they are all properly coated. Add a bit of seanoning, like for example sea salt, a bit of garlic powder and paprika or cayenne powder.
Again, heat up some oil in a frying pan and shallow-fry the mussels until they really start to colour. Don’t overcook em — remember they are already cooked.
Cover a nice little bowl or dish with your green leaves, then stack up the sauteed veg and a good heap of crispy but juicy mussels. If you’re bold, then drizzle some herb-flavoured oil over the lot, or add a splash of it on the side. Depending on the veg you chose, you could add thyme, dill or parsley. Coriander oil is really nice with mussels but it wouldn’t go well with cauliflower, so coriander lovers should stick to oriental type veg like bamboo shoots, Chinese cabbage or plain old cucumber.
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