Piera is Nico's Mom and Noah's proud grandma to be! She is a lovely lady who loves to talk. She talks to flowers, seagulls and televisions among other things. But most importantly she is an amazing cook. She makes cooking seem so effortless and when you ask her how she manages her answer is simple: "Oh dear, I've been doing this for fifty years!" Men in Italy didn't know how to cook when she was young. Some, like her husband Franco, never learned. I am jealously trying to steal all her secrets... and want to share the extraordinary result of our afternoons in the kitchen. Will post the full recipes once I have masterized them myself!
I muscoli, (literally muscles but actually mussels!) are a very common fresh produce of this area. They are traditionally prepared "ripieni", stuffed with bread soaked in milk, mortadella, garlic, parsley, egg and a bit of parmesan and cooked in a white wine, garlic, herbs and tomato sauce.
Cleaning them is tough and not for the squeamish or faint hearted! They come from the sea, not from the frozen department in Waitrose! They need to be rinsed and left on a tray to release their juices that can then be used to add flavour to the sauce. The most important bit is to delicately break their "nerve" so they don't open when they are cooking.
Of course the " ripieno", the filling is very important and fresh ingredients are the key! And you need a bit of patience to stuff them one by one...
But in the end...it will all be worth it!
No comments:
Post a Comment