Garlic Mussel Pot
As a child I clearly remember collecting Black Mussels off the rocks at our holiday home in Port Alfred in the Eastern Cape. We would walk up the beach and climb the rocks with our plastic packets collecting mussels and bringing them home to clean, removing the sand and beards in big buckets of fresh water. I can still taste that fresh, salty sea flavour smothered in garlic and butter!
Here is a simple recipe to create a restaurant quality Garlic Mussel Pot in a delicious white sauce, I hope you enjoy!
- 900g half shell mussels (I used frozen mussels acquired from Greenfish Traders)
- 100g butter
- half a cup of flour
- 2 heaped teaspoons of garlic
- 250ml cream
- 2.5 cups of milk
- Salt & Pepper
- A handful of chives (plus some for garnish)
- Remove mussels from packaging and place in a sieve allowing any excess water to be removed
- Set mussels aside
- In a large pot on the stove, melt your butter on a medium heat
- Add flour and mix into butter until it combines
- Add garlic and allow the mixture to bubble for a minute or two (but not brown)
- Using a whisk add cream and stir constantly at the boil, this mixture will thicken quickly
- Add milk and continue to stir with the whisk until the mixture thickens nicely
- Add salt and pepper and chopped chives
- Add mussels to the white sauce mixture and simmer for 10 minutes until the mussels are cooked and the sauce absorbs a lovely seafood flavour
- Serve with rice and/or a french loaf to soak up the sauce
- Garnish the top of with a few freshly chopped chives
Cajun Pan Fried Calamari
Squid is simply delicious, but who knew that such a small little creature of the ocean could hold such wonderful health benefits for our diet as it is loaded in the Vitamin B’s:
Vitamin B2: The plentiful quantities of Vitamin B2 found in squid can lower migraines.
Vitamin B3: This fabulous vitamin helps to stabilise sugar levels in the blood.
Vitamin B12: Here’s to a healthy heart with Vitamin B12 (riboflavin), which is known to lower homocysteine levels in the body, preventing the rate of strokes and heart attacks.
So here is a simple recipe to quickly pan fry all these fabulous Vitamin B’s into a delicious lunch or dinner! Enjoy.
- 1. Squid Tubes and Tenticles (cleaned) - I used 1 x 1kg pack from Greenfish Traders
- 2. Butter
- 3. Garlic
- 4. Cajun Spice
- 5. Salt & Pepper
- 6. Lemon or Lemon Juice
- 7. Sushi Mayonnaise or tartar sauce
- Heat a dry pan on the stove at high heat
- Pan fry the calamari for approx a minute or two to allow it to release any excess water
- Take the calamari off the heat, drain in a colander and set aside
- Pop a good helping of butter into your clean pan
- Add a good helping of garlic
- Throw the dry calamari back into the pan
- Add some cajun spice and salt & pepper
- Fry in the spices for approx 3-5 minutes
- Remove from the heat and squeeze some lemon juice over
- Enjoy with a touch of Sushi Mayonnaise or tartar sauce
The Easiest Grilled Kingklip
Kingklip is a fish many of you will know and love as it is served in a large number of restaurants. Many of you will also know that it can be rather pricey on a menu! So here is a very simple restaurant quality recipe to grill this delicious fish at home for the whole family to enjoy.
The Kingklip I used for this recipe was supplied by Greenfish Traders and has been filleted into 250g portions with skin removed and bone out.
- 1. Good quality Fresh Kingklip Fillets (skin off, bone out)
- 2. Butter
- 3. Crushed Garlic
- 4. Seasoning of choice (I used Robertson Fish Spice)
- 5. Salt & pepper
- Line a tray with tinfoil
- Place Kingklip fillets on lined tray
- Season with salt & pepper and spice of choice
- Spread a generous amount of crushed garlic on top
- Place a few knobs of butter on each fillet
- Turn oven onto Grill function (high heat)
- Place tray on top shelf under grill and grill for 8-10 minutes
- Fish is done when golden brown and flakes apart with a fork.
