Smoked Mussels with Seaweed Mayonnaise
Mussels
Ingredients
2 kg Cleaned mussels
250 ml Chardonnay
100 ml Water
100 ml Olive oil
1 Red onion thinly sliced
Instructions
Make sure all the mussels are clean. You can debeard them beforehand or do as I do and cut the beard off after I'd steamed the mussels.
Bring the wine and water to a boil and add some mussels in a single layer.
Cover and steam until they are open, which should take between a minute and 3 minutes.
Move opened mussels to a bowl or baking sheet and add more fresh ones until you've steamed them all and all the mussels are open.
Strain the cooking liquid through a fine sieve and set aside.
Remove all the mussels from their shell using a small knife. Be careful not to break them. Once the mussels have been shelled place them back into the strained mussel liquid. Refrigerate till your smoker is ready.
Light your smoker and allow wood to burn to coals. I use rooikrans for the coals but feed the smoker with oak for smoking. Once you have your coals ready, place a few oak staves onto the coals.
Place the mussels onto a smoking rack and smoke gently for one hour. After smoking, pour the oil and some cooking liquid over the mussels and let them cool down.
Seaweed Mayonnaise
3 egg yolks
5 ml Dijon mustard
2 g salt
80 ml vinegar
500 ml vegetable oil
1 Sheet nori, toasted
Method
Place the egg yolks, lemon juice, mustard, salt and vinegar in a bowl and whisk well.
Slowly treacle in the oil whilst beating vigorously, make sure to add the oil very slowly for the first 100 ml to ensure a stable emulsion.
If the mayonnaise is too thick add a few drops of water to thin it out.
In a dry coffee grinder, grind the nori sheet into a powder. Reserve for sprinkling over the mayo when serving.
To Serve
You can use the mussels to make canapes or serve them together as a starter. We use a small flat plate and arrange the mussels on the bottom. We add a generous dollop of the mayo, sprinkle it with the nori powder and arrange a few raw red onions over the top. Serve with crackers, fresh bread and definitely, the 2019 La Motte Chardonnay!
