This is a Sardengna style recipe for the classic Italian dish of “zuppetta di mollusca,” or, mussels in a light stew. This is relatively inexpensive to make and very fast to cook, though I don’t recommend eating bottom-feeders like mussels and clams often. You can also add clams to this dish though I’ve found its difficult to find delicate and tasty clams in the US–they are always quite large and rubbery no matter how you cook them.

For four, medium small portions:

1 large shallot, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, smashed & chopped
chicken stock (your own, about 2-3 cups, or the kind in a box; or vegetable stock)
ciabatta or other non-sourdough bread
1-2 lb mussels, I prefer mediterranean mussels
dried chili flakes
saffron
parsley (fresh)
chives or garlic chives
olive oil
white wine (optional, but good: vermintino or falanghina)
salt & pepper

Clean the mussels. Some mussels come mostly cleaned: there is little debris or gunk on the outside of the shells and the beards have been removed. If this is not the case, pull the beard with your fingers (it ends on the FLAT side of the mussel) and yank it out. Soak the mussels in fresh room temperature or slightly cool water (unless they are green-lipped, and then you should ask your distributor), for about 10-25 minutes so they can expell sand and debris.

If they are pretty gunky on the outside, scrub them with a brush. Make sure they are all alive: if they are closed, they are alive. If the shell is broken, throw it out (unless tightly sealed despite this), if they are open and do not close when you knock them on the counter top, throw them out. If you eat a previously dead mussel, you will likely get sick.

Start by warming olive oil (a few tablespoons) to medium high heat. I like to use a wide, somewhat shallow non-stick pan, but a pan for duck confit or other wide, low sided pan will work. It is good if you have a lid that fits it, or at least one that fits over most of the surface.

Once the oil is hot, add the shallots and garlic, and salt & pepper, reducing the heat to low-medium. If you like it spicy, add the pepper flakes now. Cook until mostly translucent. Add half the chicken broth and a quarter cup to half cup of white wine, turn heat to high. When bubbling (obviously has gotten hotter), add mussels and put lid on or cover as best you can with a lid. Leave it alone for three minutes. Check on the mussels. They are done when the shells open and the mussels have plumped up and pulled mostly away from their shells. If there are still some closed, put the lid back on and wait some more.

When the mussels are cooked, reduce heat to medium and add more chicken stock, as well as the saffron (a heavy pinch, crushed between your fingers). If you didn’t before, add the chili flakes. Drink some Vermentino or Falanghina while you wait. (My favorite falanghina available in the US is “Falanghina dei feudi di san gregorio.” 2005 is the current vintage. My favorite Vermintino is any from Sardegna; Tuscany also produces it but I prefer the Sardengnian).

Let the fluid reduce a little. Add the chopped chives & parsley. The goal is to be able to place two or three slices of toasted, sliced ciabatta in a bowl and pour the mussels & some broth to soak up into the bread. When you think the right amount of broth for however many people you are serving is ready, serve it up.

I’m seeing a lot of repeat visitors from the bay area, and sometimes I wonder who they are that aren’t leaving any comments. I think I know some of you, and don’t want to know some of you, and wish I knew others who I haven’t met. It’s a little disturbing when someone takes a link from yahoo searching for my real name, ends up here, and I have no idea who they are. But on with business..

So one of my very favorite simple things to make as a snack of meal is crostini. There are many, many variations of this, some more traditional than others, but the jist is this: Bruschetta (Bru-SKET-tah) is a piece of bread with stuff on it (simple; not overloaded, generally) that is fairly large, like an open-face sandwich. In America, it is used to encompass only one thing: bread with olive oil and tomatoes or some variation of this. In Italy, it refers only to the idea that it’s toasted bread with a topping and the bread is generally a particular size. Crostini, on the other hand, are smaller, usually the size of a diagnoally sliced baguette, often also thinner sliced than bruschetta. Crostini has similar toppings, often the same toppings, as bruschetta in Italy, but in the US a trendy restaurant that has crostini is probably serving you an assortment of different breads with toppings or tapanades.

A few weeks ago I made two simple crostinis:

sliced sweet Italian baguette with gorgonzola, slices of pear, and honey drizzled on top

(these are put under the broiler for a few minutes until browned and gorgonzola warmed and slightly melted: be sure to use D.O.P. Mountain Gorgonzola from Piedmonte, expect to pay about $20/lb for this in the US), the honey can be put on after the broiler if you like. I also use chestnut honey from Italy or France as it has a VERY particular flavor. I’m not a fan of the fancy honey trend that’s been going on in the US, and find many of htem taste about the same, but CHESTNUT honey is something entirely different that you should definately give a try. Some people don’t like it, but if you do, it’s wonderful. Try it also drizzled on young pecorino cheese.

the other crostini I made was Prosciutto di Parma with fresh Pecorino sliced thin and a bit of pear to brighten it up (and to get my serving of fruit). This was also put under the broiler until the prosciutto crisped up and the fat melted a bit. I drizzled olive oil on the bread of this one before putting the other toppings on, but did not on the other crostini because of the cheese.

Also, Sicilian chocolate is becoming trendy and available in the Bay Area. A readily available one is “casa don Puglisi” which you can find in several infused flavors: bergamont, ginger, cinnamon, peperoncino, and more. Sicilian chocolate is kind of like Ibarra or mexican chocolates, where it is grainy and less refined, the cocoa and the chocolate smushed together and when you open it it may look like it underwent a temperature change, but it’s normal for the cold process they use to make it. It’s delicious and the infused flavors are always subtle and not overwhelming, and only add complexity. It’s also great made into a drink with milk or water or both. So satisfying.

A few nights ago, as a gift to my good friend Eugene, I cooked the leg of lamb he had bought (Eugene can cook himself, but having someone prepare the meal & clean up is something else).

Traditionally, Abbacchio alla Romana is parts of a baby lamb that has only had mother’s milk cooked in a particular way; since this is difficult or impossible to get in the US short of having your own farm, I substituted a butterflied leg of lamb (Normally the leg, cage, and shoulder including the bones would be used). I love this recipe because the anchovies and vinegar take away the heavy, overwhelming flavor of the lamb and make it really delightful. This recipe is from Lazio, specifically, the Rome area.

I started by trimming the pearlescent membrane like stuff off the lamb as well as the excess fat, and made sure the lamb was evenly cut; I then folded it into a round and ideally would have tied it but didn’t have any butchers’ twine.

You will need:

Leg of lamb (butterflied, about 3 1/2 to 4 lbs)
garlic
olive oil
chili flakes
anchovies in oil
sherry or red wine vinegar
fresh rosemary

Olive oil, into a hot pan. Use pleanty as you don’t want it to stick. Ideally, use a cast-iron skillet, with high sides, or anything other than a non stick, with enough surface space and some squared off sides. I used about half a cup for a 3 1/2 pound leg. Crush three to six large garlic cloves to remove the skins; do not chop, just throw into the hot olive oil (medium high heat). Add chili flakes, about a teaspoon or more or less depending on your taste. Lower the heat to medium low. Let the garlic cook for a few minutes, careful not to burn it. Preheat your oven to 380 degrees.
Raise the heat again to medium high or a little higher than that. Once it heats a little more (a minute or a little less), put the meat into the pan, a nice side down to brown it. It should cook this way a few minutes. Move the garlic around a bit so that it doesn’t burn at this higher heat. Chop the rosemary and the anchovies (use about eight filets). Turn the meat once one side is brown; keep doing this until all sides are brown (pretty much). When you’re on the last side, add about 1 cup of the sherry or red wine vinegar to the pan, as well ast he rosemary and anchovies. Try to put it all over the meat evenly and some into the pan. Cook until the very strong vinegar smell is gone, and then put the pan into the oven. Cook for about 20 minutes–check either with a meat thermometer or with your gut (I just push with a spoon against the meat to see how it responds; it should move a bit like when its raw but more firm for medium rare); remember it will keep cooking quite a bit once it’s out for about ten minutes. Let it rest ten or fifteen minutes before carving.

If you desire, you can remove the meat from the pan, put it back on a burner and add a quarter cup to a half cup of good red wine, let it reduce on medium high heat, and then turn the heat off, add a few tablespoons of very cold butter, and fresh herbs (rosemary, chopped finely), and make the “gravy” into an actual sauce; I did not do this, instead we just spooned the gravy left in the pan over the meat and onto our mashed potatoes (where we also put the garlic). I served it with butter sauteed asparagus.