I want you to see my mussels!

 Well, I am off across the border this morning. That is an odd thing about working out of Bellingham, hopping over to Point Roberts: going out of the US, into Canada, and then back into the US. Then reversing that to get home. If one was afraid of the customs, or had a record to hide, it would be a white knuckle trip. Fortunately that is not the case. Before I head out, I wanted to post regarding another popular shellfish that is excellent quality in our cold waters of this region. Last week I wrote about an oyster farm. Oysters are the shellfish you hear the most about, followed by clams probably, but this region has wonderful mussels. My favorites are the Mediterranean mussels, which are like those you would get in Italy or Greece. Also, Penn Cove is a plant that is renowned around the country and it is over at nearby  Island. The mussels below are from Bow, the same shellfish farm I wrote about in an earlier blog. The first picture is the mussels after having their "beards" removed. Below that, they are all set to cook. If you wonder, the recipe we use -- that gets rave reviews -- is simple. Clean them, put them in a pot. Pour in about 3 cups of white wine, add a pinch of saffron, 3 cloves of garlic, and squeeze three or four limes into the mix, then throw in the rest of the limes.  Melt a cube of butter, clarify it if you want, add a clove of garlic and squeeze some lime in that.  That is for dipping. You can use lemon instead of the lime, if you want. Some people like heat, and add Cayenne to mussels, but to me that takes away from the great flavor of the mussels. The key to it all, of course, is great fresh shellfish to begin with. Ane we are fortunate in that regard here in this region. The websites, below the pictures, will tell you more about what is available.

http://www.taylorshellfishfarms.com/bivalvebash/2007/index.html

http://www.penncoveshellfish.com/MusselsPennCove.htm

 Thanks for looking,

Steven L. Smith

www.kingofthehouse.com

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