It’s Sunday evening and the smell of fish still rules the kitchen! Since Friday my pans and dishes were the bed for all types of fish… on Friday Mum bought these fresh squid which I decided to stuff and oven bake. The stuffing consisted of onions, garlic, aubergines, marrows, red pepper, and the squid’s tentacles – after cooking these together in a pan with some olive oil and parsley the mixture is blended to a paste. The squid is then stuffed and baked in the oven for 30 minutes. Exquisitely wonderful with some roasted potatoes, olives and capers.
Stuffed Squid
On Saturday it was my turn to do the fishy shopping… the display was eye-catching & mouth-watering… all types of fish available from the traditional lampuki to the John Dory and the Pesce San Pietro. Yet, my shopping list consisted of ingredients for a typical Sicilian dish from Trapani… couscous di pesce! Well friends were coming over to dinner so it was time to impress! I bought a mix of fish ideal to prepare the stock, dentici fillets, prawns, and clams to add to the couscous… as well as some fresh mussels for the gratin, as an antipasto. This couscous di pesce was more complicated to prepare than I thought… next time I will post its recipe but for today here’s a crumbly starter… mussels au gratin.
Serves 6
- 2 kg fresh mussels, scrubbed and cleaned
- 100gr breadcrumbs
- 50gr parmesan, grated
- salt & pepper
- handful of chopped parsley
- olive oil
Put the mussels in a large pan on high heat until they are all open. Discard any which remain closed. Open the shells in two and put the half shells which contain the mussel in an oven proof dish. Scatter over the mixture of breadcrumbs, parmesan, parsley and salt & pepper and put in a pre-heated oven of 180 degress Celsius for 10 minutes. Pour some olive oil and serve with fresh crusty bread.
Mussels au Gratin
