Mussels & Artichoke Chowder
Serves: 4
Preparation time: 90 min. plus 60 min. mussel purging time
Soup des Moules et Artichauts, one of my favourite Provençal seafood dishes. The recipe marries mussels and artichokes, both of them plentiful from November to April. If you don't have fresh artichokes on hand use frozen or canned ones. Fresh artichokes require additional time.
Ingredients:
- 2 kg (about 4 lbs) mussels, cleaned and purged
- 1 cup dry white wine
- 6 artichoke hearts, fresh, frozen or canned - reserve 4 artichokes cut into quarters for decoration, chop the remaining 2)
- 2 tbsp. olive oil
- 30 gr (1 1/2 cups) onions finely diced
- 2 tbsp. flour
- 1/2 l (2 cups) of fish stock
- 350 gr (1 1/2 cups) boiled potatoes finely diced
- 1 bayleaf
- 1 fresh thyme twig or a 1/4 teasp. dried thyme leaves
- 1/4 teasp. ground mace
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2 cups of light cream
- 1 teasp. paprika
Preparation:
First clean and purge the mussels.
Pour white wine into a large non-reactive pot over medium heat. Bring it to a boil and reduce it to a simmer. Add the mussels and cover the pot. Steam the mussels, shaking the pot a few times, until they are open. This should take 3-5 min. Transfer the open mussels to a bowl, discard any mussels which did not open. Reserve the wine-mussel liquid.
In a separate pot heat olive oil over medium heat and sauté onions until they are soft and golden, about 5 min. Whisk in the flour stirring gently until well incorporated to the onions. Add the wine-mussel liquid little by little to avoid clumping, stirring until it forms a nice smooth paste. Slowly pour in the fish stock whisking it constantly. Bring the liquid to a boil; reduce the heat and simmer it until slightly thickened.
In the mean time remove the mussels from their shells. Set aside, they will not be added to the chowder until the last minute. Reserve at least 16 mussels in halfshell for decoration (4 per plate). Catch any juice left from the mussels and add them to the wine stock liquid.
Add potatoes, carrots, bayleaf, thyme, mace, salt and pepper to the wine stock liquid. Simmer vegetables for about 15 min. or until they are soft. Discard bayleaf. Add the 2 chopped artichokes. Fresh or frozen artichokes need to be cooked in advance according to instructions. Canned artichokes only need to be added in the end. Add the mussels and cream, heat over low flame until heated through; about 5 min.
Serve chowder in soup plates; arrange reserved mussels in their halfshells and artichoke quarters over the chowder. Sprinkle it with paprika for an extra touch.