Jane Grigson's Fish Book - Jane Grigson [121]
All this can be done in advance. You can open the mussels with white wine rather than water, and add white wine to the oysters, but I do not think you gain anything by it. The charm of the dish is its simple contrasts.
To make up the pudding, roll out the dough into a large square or rectangle under 1 cm (¼ inch) thick. Scatter it with onion, bacon, parsley and the shellfish – you can cut the oysters in two to get a better distribution of flavour. Roll up, dampen the ends and press the ends together. Put on to a generously-buttered piece of foil, large enough to enclose the roll in a baggy parcel (the crust needs room to rise and swell). Seal it well. Enclose in a cloth if you like, for easy handling.
Bring an oblong or oval pan – I use a self-basting roaster – one-third full of water to the boil. Put a trivet in the pan, or a long shallow dish upside-down and lay the parcel on top. Cover and steam for 2 hours. Check from time to time and, if necessary, restore the original water-level with more boiling water.
Remove the pudding and take away the cloth, if used. Unwrap the foil carefully, saving any juices, and turn the pudding on to a hot serving dish. If convenient, put into a moderately hot oven to crisp the surface slightly. Melt the butter for the sauce, add plenty of pepper and heat it through, skimming off the white crust. Then add the herbs. Add any juices in the cooking foil to the shellfish juices and heat them through as well. Taste, and reduce if they seem watery. Serve butter and juices in two separate jugs. Slice the pudding and eat it on its own, although you could follow it with a salad.
MUSSEL AND SPINACH GRATIN
This is a delectable and unusual recipe from Evan Jones’s World of Cheese. Many cheese cookery books are disappointing, but not this one – perhaps because it makes clear the special delight and relationship between vegetables and cheese, cheese of different and specified kinds. For this dish you may not be able to get Italian fontina, the creamy cheese from Piedmont. It will not be quite the same with Gruyère or Emmental, but they are the nearest thing to it on general sale.
Serves 6
3 kg (6–7 lb) mussels
1½ kg (3 lb) fresh spinach or 1 kg (2 lb) pack frozen spinach
2 tablespoons chopped shallot or spring onion
125 ml (4 fl oz) dry white wine
3 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons plain flour
125 ml (4 fl oz) whipping or double cream
generous pinch of saffron
salt, pepper
125–150 g (4–5 oz) grated fontina cheese
Wash and scrape the mussels, discarding any that are broken, or that remain open when tapped sharply. Wash and cut the spinach into shreds with scissors, or divide the frozen block, slightly thawed, into smaller pieces. Put the shallot or onion into a large pan with the wine. Place the spinach on top, then the mussels. Cover tightly, set over a very high heat, and boil for 5 minutes. Remove the cooked mussels and discard the shells. Take the pan off the stove if the spinach is also cooked. Drain the spinach, keeping the liquor carefully.
Make a sauce with the butter, flour, liquor from the spinach and mussels, and cream. Stir in saffron and seasoning to taste. Boil for a few minutes to release the saffron yellow.
Spread out the spinach in a buttered casserole, put the mussels on top and then the sauce. Finish with grated cheese. Bake in the oven at gas 6, 200°C (400°F) for 10 minutes, then complete the browning under the grill. The dish should be heated through properly, without the mussels being overcooked to rubber.
MUSSELS WITH WALNUT AND TAHINA SAUCE
Serves 8
2 kg (4 lb) mussels, opened by method 1
4 tablespoons chopped parsley
4 tomatoes, skinned, seeded
salt, pepper
6 pitta bread, warmed through
SAUCE
2 slices of white bread, crusts removed
3 cloves garlic, halved
3 tablespoons tahina paste
125 g (4 oz) shelled walnuts
3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
150 ml (5 fl oz) sunflower oil
salt, freshly