Banana Bread with a Crunch

Getting banana bread just right is not as easy as one would think. Specially if you prefer it without chocolate (chips), like I do. But in the long run, what really makes all the difference is using pure, preferably organic produce.

I went through trial and error and I am quite happy to share the result!

Ingredients
(for 12 medium sized slices)

•2 medium ripe bananas, mashed
•2 tbsp of melted coconut oil
•1 tbsp of coconut oil (for greasing)
•2 + 1 tbsp of agave nectar
•1 tbsp of (real!) vanilla extract
•3 medium sized eggs
•100 g of almond flour
•50 g of coconut flour
•1 1/2 tsp of baking soda
•1/2 tsp of sea salt
•1 tsp of allspice
•40 g of chopped walnuts

What you do
•preheat the oven to 175°C
•grease a loaf pan of 12 x 28 cm with coconut oil
•in a blender, whip up the eggs and then reduce the speed and add the wet ingredients until everything is well combined
•mix the dry ingredients together first and then add to the wet mixture
•now pour everything into the baking loaf pan
(the mixture will be thick and you will need to smooth it evenly with a rubber spatula of the back of a tablespoon)
•now bathe the chopped walnuts with 1 tbs of agave and with your hand, sprinkle it evenly over the top
•place the loaf pan in the middle of the oven and bake for approximately 30 minutes (till the mixture is dry in the inside)

Notes
•why agave nectar instead of honey? 
Agave nectar has a lower GI than honey and is therefore healthier for you
Honey will caramelize in the oven; this will make your cakes look dark in the inside and give it a bit of a 'burnt' aftertaste....
•what if you cannot find agave nectar in your region?
Try maple tree syrup if you are in North America; in South America I have experimented with lemon tree syrup and this works well too. You would think the citrus taste would be overwhelming but it is not...










Creamy Parsnip Chowder

In winter, a creamy chowder is my comfort food! Soups are easy to make and will really stand out when you make them yourself, from scratch.

If you own a (Vitamix®) blender, it is very easy to accomplish a wonderful creaminess without the use of a single drop of dairy! 


Ingredients
(serves 4 to 6)

•4 tbsp of coconut oil
•1 large (sweet) onion, peeled and chopped
•250 g of carrots, peeled and chopped
•500 g of parsnips, peeled and chopped
•a dice-size piece of ginger, peeled and chopped
•1 level tsp of grated orange grind
•750 ml of vegetable stock
•freshly ground fresh pepper
•fresh coriander to garnish

What you do
•melt the coconut in a large saucepan over low heat
•add the chopped onion and stir until soft
•add carrot, parsnip and stir for approx. 5 minutes (unit the vegetables have soften a little)
•now add the ginger, the orange rind and stock
•bring everything to a boil, add the pepper and then reduce the heat
•simmer for 45 minutes
•remove from the heat and after letting it cool down for 15 minutes, transfer the soup to your blender and whizz until very smooth
•rinse your original sauce pan and return the soup to the pan
•reheat the soup if necessary over a very low heat
•ladle the soup into soup bowls
•garnish your parsnip soup with a sprig of coriander


Suggestion
Serve with homemade crackers!



Blueberry Muffins



I have tried various paleo recipes for blueberry muffins. I wasn't too happy with any of the ones I found. You would think there is no great science to baking a 'grain-free' 'dairy-free' blueberry muffin... Yet, there is.
All the recipes I came across had practically identical ingredients; still the outcome was not convincing.

It took some experimenting to realise the ingredients suggested were actually fine, but there always something preventing the perfect outcome: either the heat of the oven, the cooking time, the way the different ingredients were put together or the amount of eggs....

Anyway, I am ready to share the muffins that made my day! I hope they make yours!

What you need
•muffin tray
•6 muffin liners

Ingredients
(makes 6 muffins)
•200 g almond flour
•4 medium size/large organic eggs
(if your eggs are small, use 5)
•1/2 tsp baking soda
•1 tsp apple cider vinegar
•200 g organic blueberries, washed
•1/2 tsp of vanilla extract
•1/3 cup of agave nectar

Instructions
•preheat the oven to 165°C
•in a medium sized bowl, mix the dry ingredients
•in another mixing bowl, combine the wet ingredients
•now pour and mix wet ingredients into dry ingredients
•fold the blackberries into the mix, gently (preferably with a rubber spoon)
•line the muffing baking tray with muffin liners
•scoop the batter and divide evenly into the muffin tray
•bake for 30 min. until golden brown




        

Stuffed Tomatoes

Here is a super-easy, super-healthy dish to either add to a buffet, to serve as your appetizer dish of a multi-course meal or take to friends when they invite you over for drinks and finger food! It's versatile and fast to prepare.

Also, I bet you can make it with the ingredients you have in your cupboard! No need to go out and shop for 'that one thing you are missing'!


Ingredients
(makes 10 small tomatoes or 8 medium sized ones)
2 cans of cooked tuna in water
(needless to say that fresh tuna grilled at home will always taste better and be healthier...)
•2 Tbs of home made or organic mayonnaise
•20 calamata or (black) olives (pit removed) + 10 more for decoration
•1 medium red onion
•pinch of Himalayan rock salt and freshly ground pepper


What you do
•Cup the top of the tomatoes and removed all seeds and flesh
•Turn the tomatoes upside down and let them drain all extra fluids (approx. 10 min.)
•In the meantime, put the tuna, onion, mayonaise in a food processor and grind to a paste;
•Now add salt and pepper to taste and mix;
•Add the 20 calamata olives and blend for just a second (you want the black calamatas to show in your mix and give it structure);
•Finely stuff the tomatoes and decorate with a black olive on the top.

Enjoy!








Hash Browns


When changing eating habits and ridding myself of all grains, one of the things I missed on my Sunday American breakfast menu were hash browns. Admittedly, using yams is a good option, but if you are looking for an alternative that tastes astonishing like the real thing, you will love this recipe. 

Ingredients
•1 cauliflower head, shredded
•2 eggs
•1 tsp dried oregano
•2 tbsp coconut oil, melted
•1/2 tsp Himalayan salt

What you do
•in a pan, sauté the cauliflower in 1 tbsp of coconut out until 'al dente';
•once the cauliflower has cooled down, transfer it to a bowl and add the eggs, dried oregano and salt;
•warm up the frying pan again, add 1 tbsp of coconut oil and once the pan is warm, add the cauliflower mixture;
•once the bottom is golden brown, turn the cauliflower 'cake' around using a flat plate;
•cook the other side until golden brown.

Remarks
•I used a 27 cm diameter pan; this makes a 1,2 cm thick cauliflower cake

Enjoy!


           


Home Made Crackers

It is pretty cool -and hopeful- to see how rapidly the food paradigm is changing. More and more people are questioning their food choices, becoming more demanding as consumers. Supermarkets are having to adapt to new lifestyle demands.

My husband and I have kept a Friday Night Fun (FNF) tradition going for years now. It is that precious time at the end of the week when we sit down together for a drink, reflect on the past days, share our stories and plot the days to come.

What we prepare for our FNF-time has changed considerably throughout the years. Potato chips with additives and tons of salt, have been replaced by cassava crisps 'au naturel'; peanuts made room for walnuts, cashew nuts, almonds and macadamia nuts; rubbery cheese was substituted by olives.
(Keep your eyes peeled for my upcoming post 'Friday Night Fun' for a list of ideas....)

I have been buying (raw vegetable/seed) crackers from Lifefood for quite a while. They can be quite pricey and need to be shipped (which in itself is not particularly environmentally friendly....).

A good friend from South Africa visited us a few months ago. Darren couldn't believe I didn't make my own. "It's so easy and fun!", he said.

I tried his recipe and believe you me, it's 'fool proof', quick to prepare and absolutely delicious. The best part?  They taste way better than any cracker I have ever purchased!
This is the tool you have been looking for, to compliment your home made dips! Or to offer your bread-munger friends during a sit-down meal! The ingredients have tons of health benefits, too many to list. But I do encourage you to look up the links for more in-depth information.

Ingredients
(for 3 oven trays)
•200 g sunflower seeds
•60 g flax seed
•100 g (hulled) sesame seeds
•2 tbs psyllium seed husks
•500 ml water (room temperature)
•1tsp crushed Himalayan salt

What you do
•preheat the oven to 160°C;
•cover 3 oven trays (or flat baking trays) with parchment paper;
•combine all dry ingredients in a bowl and add the water; leave the mixture to stand for 5 minutes. Mix well;
•spread the mixture on the baking tray carefully, making use of the back of a metal spoon. The spread should have no holes in it;
•bake in the oven until crispy (approx. 60-65 min.);
•remove from the oven and as soon as the baking tray allows it, remove the parchment paper from the cracker spread and let the cracker cool down either on a rack or standing up;
•once cooled, break the crackers into any size or shape you like and store left overs (if any!) in an airtight container.

Remarks
•you want to work the uncooked seed mixture into the tray without loosing time. The longer you wait, the more sticky the mixture will get as the psyllium hardens. This will make it increasingly more difficult to spread the raw mixture onto the tray in an evenly fashion;
•even though the original recipe calls for "spreading the mixture as thin as possible onto the tray", I tried thicker and thinner options and liked the slightly thicker result better. Experiment and see what you prefer. Do keep in mind you do want to spread the mixture evenly for it to cook properly...
•the first time I made these, I did not remove the parchment paper from the cracker till half an hour after the cracker had come out of the oven. This turned out to be a big mistake :-( The steam coming off the baked cracker condescend at the bottom/paper end and ruined the cracker... I ended up 'saving' it by putting the cracker chunk back into the oven for a few minutes (this time with no paper of tray, just on the rack) to dry. Worked like a charm!
•if the raw mixture starts sticking to your metal spoon, dip the spoon in a glass of water and carry on. This should do the trick!








                

Ceviche with Pzazz


Lotty is my very dear friend from Ecuador. She is also my neighbour. Without her warmth I don’t know if I would be able to survive Dutch winters.
Besides being a loving person and good friend, she is also one of the best cooks I know! Of all her dishes I would have say her crab & prawn ceviche ranks #1 by far.

Ceviche is a very popular dish in Bolivia, Perú and Ecuador. You can use different types of fish for it.
In South America is it usually served as an appetizer. But glam it up with a couple of side dishes and you have the perfect meal.


I have tried her recipe many times. Now that according to Lotty I have (almost) mastered perfection, I am ready to audition my recipe! Ceviche has become more and more popular around the world, specially in trendy restaurants in cosmopolitan areas. While in Miami last winter, I tried every ceviche I could find on the menu.
I took her recipe but then gave it my own twist. When she tastes mine she tends to shake her head and say 'nope, too much cumin'. But you know, I really love the extra pzazz!

Still, I have to say my friend Lotty makes the very best.



Ingredients
(for 4 to 6 people)

•400g of clean raw prawns (mid size)
•400g of crab meat
•2 medium diced tomatoes (seeds removed)
• a handful of chopped cilantro
•3 hot chili peppers (seeds removed, chopped)
•pinch of Hilamayan pink salt; crushed
•(the juice of) 8 limes
•(the juice of) 1/2 orange
•1 tsp of cumin
•1/4 cup extra virgin oil
•2 medium red onions, chopped
•1 avocado, diced


What you do
•slice the prawns lengthwise in half, and leave them to marinate in a bowl for at least an hour in some salt and cumin;
• then put them in a pan with some water (enough to cover them) and some extra salt;
•once the water reaches boiling point, remove the pan from the heat source immediately and leave the prawns to cool down in the pan;
•in a bowl, chop the red onion, the tomatoes and the red chili peppers;
•add the lime and orange juice;
•add the crab meat (and any water it might release), the prawns and the water you cooked them in;
•add the avocado;
•add the extra virgin oil;
•sprincle a generous amount to fresh cilantro
•cover with some cling foil and put in the fridge

Remarks
•ceviche is best served cold and when the ingredients have had the chance to blend for at least a couple of hours;
•if you cannot find crab meat or you find it too expensive in your area, replace it by (very fresh and very thinly sliced, raw) white fish;
•some of the side dishes you could add are: steamed yams or cassava; cassava chips; fried banana.






Spanish Peppers Stuffed with Cod

One of my favourite Spanish dishes has to be 'Pimientos del Piquillo'. It is a very traditional dish which consists of stuffing char-grilled sweet red peppers from Lodosa (Northern Spain). The red peppers from this region have a particular shape -which makes them easy to stuff without cutting them open. The consistency of the skin is thick and hard and therefore will not tare easy during stuffing.

Unless you live in Spain, it is impossible to find them fresh -only jarred. Given the choice between using the authentic precooked jarred pimientos del piquillo from Spain to your local red peppers, I will no hesitate to choose the latter.

The original recipe calls for cod to stuff them. But if cod is too expensive (or unavailable) in your area, you can actually pick any other white flaky fish instead.

You can make this dish 1 day ahead and reheat. Actually, it will taste better if you do, than if you eat it right ahead.

What you need
•a cooking pot with a lid;
•food processor;
•oven tray;
•oven dish;
•12 tooth picks

Ingredients
(for 6 peppers)
6 red peppers (for stuffing)
•1 red pepper, diced (for sauce)
•300 g of cod
•1 leak, thoroughly cleaned and sliced in thin rings
•80 ml white wine
•80 ml tomate frito
•80 ml water
•fresh parsley
•1 clove of garlic, minced
•freshly grind pepper
•freshly grind Himalayan salt
•1 tbs agave nectar
•2 tbs virgin olive oil

What you do

•start by making the sauce and fry the leak rings in 1 tbs of virgin olive oil and 3 min. later add the diced red pepper. Cook while moving it around with a wooden spoon;
•add the tomate frito and the white wine;
•add some salt and pepper;
•cook for approx. 1 hour at very low heat and in a covered pot; from time to time add some water to keep the sauce runny;
•if necessary, add 1 tbs of agave nectar. Personally I find that, depending on the quality of the pepper you used for the sauce, it might not even be necessary. Taste the sauce and see what your taste buds tell you....
•now that the sauce is cooking, preheat the oven to 195C and when the oven has reached this temperature, wash the red pepers thoroughly with hot water and place 6 in a baking tray (making sure the do not touch each other);
•cook in the middle of the oven for approx. 30 min (look at the picture below to get an idea of how the peppers should look);
•remove the peppers from the oven and let them rest on your kitchen counter till they cool down a bit;
•in the meantime, you could work on the cod stuffing by frying the diced onion and minced garlic in 1 tbs of virgin olive oil and 3 min. later, adding the cod, some salt and pepper. When the cod is almost cooked, cut some parsley on top of it with a scissors. Turn off the heat;
•once the grilled peppers have cooled off, remove the skin. Then, gently cut them in half and removed the stem and seeds;
•stuff the peppers with the cod and close them with toothpicks;
•gently arrange the stuffed peppers in an oven dish;
•now put the sauce in a food processor and blend it smooth;
•over the peppers with it;

Remarks
You can now either wait for everything to cool down, cover the dish with some foil and keep it in the fridge for one or two days or...you can put it back in the oven. Crank the heat to 240C en warm everything up for approx. 15 min. before serving!
Red peppers and in the top 5 of most sprayed vegetable! If possible, buy organic. If not, make sure you was the vegetables very well under piping hot water. That will take a lot of the chemicals of the surface.











Easy Thai Prawns

Living in the Netherlands has given me exposure to great Thai cuisine. And although to some of us it might seem impossible to accomplish a good Thai dish at home, it is easier than you think to get close to the real thing.

Ingredients
will serve 4 to 6 
•4 small onions
•1 kg of raw prawns
•1 tbs of (Pataks's) mild curry paste
•4 medium sized tomatoes, washed
•400 ml of coconut cream
•2 tbs coconut oil
•1 handful of fresh coriander, chopped
•4 Thai basil leaves (preferably fresh)

What you do
•our onions are quite small so I peeled and chopped 4 (adjust the amount depending on how big yours are);
•heat the coconut oil in a big pan (I love using my paella pan); preferably one that looks good enough to bring to the table;
•add the chopped onions and cook in medium heat until translucent;
•add the curry paste and stir till all the herbs in the paste start releasing their wonderful smells (give or take a minute); add the tomatoes, diced
•once the tomatoes are cooked (this might take apron. 5 to 10 minutes), add the coconut cream and the basil leaves
•as soon as the ingredients have come together, add the prawns and let it all simmer for approx. 10 minutes;
•just before the prawns are done (initially grey, their color will turn orange), add the chopped coriander

Remarks
•Serve with something 'neutral', such as steamed yams, celery root or white carrot. I try to avoid rice but I do have it once in a blue moon. Needless to say this dish goes great with it, specially steamed basmati rice!
•'Patak's' is a very well known brand for amazing curry paste.
•If you cannot find Thai basil leaves, try 'regular' basis leaves. Not quite the same, but it comes close....
•if you have the choice, pick coconut cream above coconut 'milk'. But most importantly, make sure it has no 'additives'... It just ruins the healthiness of the products and that is a shame....


 






Fish Picadillo

If you google the name 'picadillo', you will actually find it is the name of a typical Cuban dish made with ground beef. So I am sure you can understand how surprised I was when at the local supermarket, I found a cute tin of mixed spices by Jonnie Boer, called 'Picadillo'.
Got my glasses out of my handbag and read that what I was holding was actually a mix of dried herbs: paprika, garlic, chili, onions, oregano, red onion, cumin, jalapeno, parsley, coriander leaf, black pepper, chipotle, cinnamon, Jamaica pepper and lovage.
What no preservatives? No sodium glutamate? How about 'emulsifiers'? Nope! Once in a blue moon it is possible to bump into something considerably pure and healthy at the local supermarket!

Mixed spices like these make a wonderful 'quick fix' when you come home tired from work and you want a healthy bite.

What you need
•oven proof dish

Ingredients
(serves 4)
•1 tbs of Jonnie Boer's 'picadillo'
•50 ml of good quality virgin olive oil
•600 grams of white white fish (fillets)
•pinch of salt

What you do
•turn the oven on to 240C 
•mix the picadillo with the oil and add a pinch of salt
•arrange the fish in an oven proof dish and add the picadillo mix to it; let it marinade for at least 15 minutes (while you wait for the oven to reach the right temperature)
•pop the fish in the oven and cook for no proximately 10 minutes

Remarks
This will work with about any type of white fish. Dare experiment with different spices!
I like to serve this dish with a simple salad, woked veggies or steamed white carrots.









Fancy Avocado Goodness

My mother used to make these whenever we had guests, to spoil them I guess. They were considered quite a fancy bite when I was small.
It doesn't take long to prepare and the dish has the added plus of being full of health benefits. For one, the avocado is an amazing superfruit, an excellent source of 'good' fats. Add shrimp, which like any fish, it has tons of vitamine B12, omega-3, protein and selenium and you are eating goodness. I do recommend to be critical about farmed shrimp. If possible, avoid it totally.

Ingredients
(for 4)
•2 ripe avocados
•1 tbs (of preferably) home made mayonnaise
•1 tbs (of preferably) home made ketchup
•1 tbs of whiskey
•300 g of wild small shrimp

What you do
•mix the mayonnaise, ketchup and whiskey
•cut the avocados in half and remove the pit
•drain and dry the shrimp then add the sauce to it
•fill the avocados and serve chilled



 



The Body Needs to Move

For years my chiropractic neurologist husband has been telling me about the importance of movement. And I am not talking about the bit about being physically fit -which we all know is a requirement for overall health. And yes, I workout quite a bit, keep active and reap the fruits of that every day of my life...  
I am talking about the effect it has on our nervous system, the housing of what gives all your organs and muscles direction and power.

All this time I have followed his advise -it made total sense to me. But it wasn't till a few months ago that I really, really understood what he was talking about. Can you imagine? Yes, it took THIS long to make sense to me. 
Right after my 'Eureka' moment I felt the need to share my experience, in the hope that next time somebody talks to you about the importance of movement for the nervous system, it will hit home way faster than it did me....

A few months ago I underwent an O.R. procedure where a surgeon laser treated two nasty varicose veins. But before I did, I put the 'operation' off three times because I was very sceptical about submitting myself to general anaesthesia for a procedure that was not going to save my life.
The thought that kept popping in my head was: 'Do I want to shut down my system, expose my body to the 1:500.000 chance of not waking up after general anaesthesia? Just because I have two ugly veins showing in my leg?
(Yes folks! Those are the odds!).

I decided to ask the surgeon if he could do the procedure with 'local anaesthesia'. He hesitated for a few seconds and then he said: "Yes, I guess I could...".
Phew! I decided to have the procedure done.

When I was discharged, a nurse gave me a list of things to do and not to do. She also told me the doctor wanted me to take 1000mg of paracetamol every 6 hours and 2 Ibuprofens before I went to bed. This advise scared me. It made me think I was going to be in a lot, a lot of pain after the local anaesthesia wore off.
Funny enough, after it did I felt some 'pulling' but no real pain, so I took nothing. Also when I went to bed I decided not to take any medication and wait and see what happened. I was in no pain so why take the medication, right? I woke up in the middle of the night feeling quite a bit of pain. So I took 200 mg of paracetamol :-(  By the time I walked back to the bed the pain had gone and I remember thinking how miraculously fast the paracetamol had given me relief....
Into the second day the same thing happened... No pain what so ever during the day but oh yes, the middle of the night hit and I woke up with so much pain that I had to talk to the bathroom again and take 200 mg of paracetamol upon which immediately the pain went away...completely.
Next morning I told my chiropractic neurologist husband about the course of events. Smart as he is, he said: "I bet that what is helping the pain is not really the drug, but the movement itself. Why don't you try walking around a bit tomorrow night, if this happens again".
Third night came and oh yes, right around 2 p.m. excruciating pain wakes me up. This time I decide to take a two minute a walk: to the bathroom, the kitchen, back to the bedroom.
I'll be damned! The pain went away, completely, within 2 minutes! I woke up 2 more times during the same night, got up, walked around, and presto. All pain went in a few minutes.
It then dawn on me... What caused the pain was the lack of movement during the night. Pain I would have probably not felt if I had taken all the drugs the hospital prescribed...
I cannot get it out of my mind: why would they advise me to drug myself, to the point that I don't feel my body screaming for a bit of movement to help it heal? Crazy!
I am not encouraging people not not follow their surgeon's advise. I am just saying, think, open your mouth, ask questions and be critical!

Rum Runner's Chocolate Fix


Grey windy days call for comfort food. There is no two ways about it. Winter comes and my chocolate cravings sky rocket! If you use good quality pure chocolate wisely, it is possible to nourish body and mind without compromising your healthy lifestyle. 

This recipe will serve 12 but if you only need to impress 6 guests, no problem. Freeze half the cake and half the leftover rum sauce and you will save yourself a lot of work next time you are in the mood for Rum Runner's Chocolate Fix!

You need
•parchment paper
•a round 8 inch (20 cm) spring form baking pan
•mixer
•sharp long knife


Ingredients for the Cake
•1/2 cup (120 ml) of oil 
•2/3 cups (94 grams) of coconut flour
•1/2 cup (50 grams) unsweetened good quality cacao powder
•1/2 tsp baking soda
•1/2 tsp sea salt
•6 medium sized eggs
•3/4 cup (180 ml) agave nectar
•1/2 cup (120 ml) water
•1 tbs vanilla extract

Ingredients for Rum Sauce
•1 tsp of grounded cloves 
•1 tsp of grounded bay leave
•1 tsp of grounded cinnamon 
•4 tbs date molasses or agave nectar
•150g of  raisins
•juice of 4 oranges (2 cups)
•juice of 2 limes (2 tbs)
•1 cup of dark rum

Baking the Cake
•Preheat the oven to 170C
•grease the pan and line bottom and sides with parchment paper (cut a round circle for the bottom and then a strip to cover the side. The grease will make the paper stick to the pan).
•combine the dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside
•whisk the eggs and once they are fluffy add the wet ingredients, bit by bit, letting them blend in nicely
•add the dry ingredients into the wet, allowing them to mix well till the batter has become a whole
•pour into the pan and make sure the mixture is spread evenly
•bake for 40 min (or until you insert a toothpick in the middle and it comes out clean)
•take it out of the oven and allow it to cool down for about 15 min. Then take it out of the spring form, put it on a wire rack and allow it to cool completely.

Preparing the Rum Sauce
•put the raisins in the rum and let the raisins soak up some of the liquid (approx. 30 min.)
•the put the raisins with the liquid and the spices and the agave in a saucepan and let the liquid simmer till it has reduced and becomes thicker (approx. 15 min), allowing the alcohol to evaporate a bit.

Putting it together
•slice thin pieces of cake
•pour plenty of rum sauce over it.

Remarks
•I realize that depending of how you extract the juice of the oranges and lime, the size of the fruit and the time of the year, you might end up with more or less juice. So go by the amount of cups/tbs (rather than the number of oranges/limes);
•in some parts of the world, agave is more common than date molasses. I tried it both ways. I definitely loved the date molasses variation better. It gives it a 'richer' taste.
•see the pictures below for 2 types of presentations...





Tiki Bar Spicy Mussels

We recently visited Florida for the first time and spent our days in Miami and the Keys. I was taken by surprise by the beauty of the colours I found in the nature, the dedication to preserve the historic art deco architecture in South Beach and the quality of the food!

The Spicy Mussels in Garlic Tomato Sauce at the Islamorada Tiki Bar is by far the best starter I had during my stay. The Grill Fish Bar in Miami South Beach (Española Way and Collins) did a good job, but couldn't top it.

Once home I couldn't wait to reproduce the Tiki Bar's version of what apparently is quite a common dish in the South Florida area. I put this recipe together and got my husband's thumbs up! It makes a starter for 6 to 8.


What you need
•strainger
•big mussel pan
•paella style pan (wide, round, not too high)

Ingredients for the sauce
•2 red bell peppers (washed, cleaned and finely chopped)
•40 g of green olives  (cut in rings)
•3 anchovies filets (minced into a paste)
•2 medium onions (finely chopped)
•4 big cloves of garlic (finely sliced)
•4 medium tomatoes (washed, cubed)
•2 tbsp of capers
•500 ml of fish stock
Himalayan salt & pepper to taste
•4 tbs virgin olive oil
•a handful of fresh parsley (chopped)

Ingredients for the mussels
•2 kg of fresh mussels
•2 glasses of dry white wine
•4 big cloves of garlic (sliced)
•2 chili peppers (sliced, with seeds)
•4 tbs virgin olive oil

What you do

Mussels
Rinse the mussels under the cold water, pulling off any beards, scraping off any barnacles or dirt. Discard open or broken shells;
•soak the mussels for an hour in a bucket full of clean cold water. The mussels will then clean themselves inside out by soaking water and discarding any sand or dirt they might have inside;
•heat four tablespoons of olive oil in a large saucepan, add the chillies and four garlic cloves, peeled and sliced. Fry over a medium heat for 2 minutes, stirring until the garlic is soft and golden brown;
•now add the clean mussels, put the lid to the pan and cook over a high heat for 2 minutes. Give the pan a good shaking once in a while, making sure the heat distributes well within the pan;
Add the white wine and cook until the the mussels are open (this will take 5 to 6 minutes);
•now strain the liquid left in the saucepan. Set the mussels and the strained juice aside (you want the strainer to have tiny wholes to make sure you get all possible sand and dirt that might be left in the pan after cooking the mussels);

•discard any unopened shells;

Tomato Sauce
•preheat your saucepan at medium heat and add 4 tbsp of virgin olive oil;
•now add the onion and garlic and cook till it becomes transparent. Do not allow it to get brown!
•two minutes later add the peppers;
•five minutes later add the capers, the olives and the tomatoes;
•five minutes later add a bit of Himalayan salt and some freshly grinded pepper;
•now put the lid on your pan, lower the heat and let it simmer for 1 1/2 hours, stirring with a wooden spoon once in a while adding the fluids (mussel fluids and fish stock) as you go along;
•add the minced anchovies to the tomato sauce;
•once the tomato sauce is cooked (but is still a little bit liquid), add the mussels and the freshly chopped flat leaf parsley. Stir gently. When the mussels are back to temperature, serve and enjoy!

Remarks
•The paella pan I have at home was not big enough for 2 kg of mussels and as I started arranging the mussels in my paella pan, it soon got quite crowded. If this happens to you, take some mussels out of the shell to safe on some room. That is what I did.
•The tomato sauce should not be too thick, but rather liquid.