Stephanie Izard's Steamed Mussel and Fennel Escabeche
On Day 3 of Club Med's Food and Wine Festival held at Columbus Isle in the Bahamas, Top Chef winner Stephanie Izard wooed us with her superstar smile and fantastic dishes. This girl totally rocks. Not only is she insanely talented in the kitchen, but she's genuinely fun to hang with. Oh and she's got whopper of a fish tale to tell from this Bahamas trip!
Early in the morning, Stephanie went out on a fishing boat with a few other chefs and snagged a massive wahoo – like an 80 pounder – and she struggled, fought and pulled for 45 minutes trying to reel that baby in. Finally, just as it got close to the boat, this shark came out of nowhere and started snapping at the wahoo! Stephanie kept pulling it in as fast as she could…and the shark fought for his dinner too.
After all that work…Stephanie plopped a wahoo head onto deck. Damn that shark!
Quite an adventurous fishing expedition, though!
The chefs have been catching barracuda, wahoo and mahi mahi everyday – each day's catch is tomorrow's dinner for our group. The barracuda gets thrown back, as it feeds on the reef and is considered poisonous in these waters. But the wahoo and mahi mahi….the best fish I've ever had.
We had a chance to chat with Stephanie, and that girl's got some fun things happening – a new restaurant called The Drunken Goat (which, by the way, her last name in French means goat!) You can find details of her restaurant opening at www.stephanieizard.com.
The the dish that Stephanie taught us is the Steamed Mussel and Fennel Escabeche!
Steamed Mussel and Fennel Escabeche
Serves 4
Escabeche might be spelled or pronounced differently depending on where you find it, but whether it’s referring to Puerto Rican, Jamaican, Spanish or Provencal cuisine, it’s generally the same thing: an acidic marinade. I’ve always liked escabeche on oilier fish like mackerel or on nice plump mussels, where the acidity is a great counter balance.
Steamed mussels
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, sliced
2 pounds live mussels
salt and pepper, to taste
2 sprigs of thyme
3/4 cup white wine
Heat a tablespoon of olive oil over medium-high heat in a large saucepot, add onion and garlic and sweat for two minutes. Add mussels, stir to coat, season with salt and pepper.
Add wine and thyme, cover and let steam until the shells just open, which should take about three to five minutes, depending on the size of the mussels.
Once they cool, pull the mussels from their shells, discarding the shells and setting the mussels aside.
Fennel Escabeche
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 red pepper, julienned
1/4 cup red onion, thinly sliced
1 cup fennel bulb, thinly sliced
1 serrano chile, seeds removed and thinly sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
3 tablespoons white balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon white wine
1 teaspoon sugar
salt and pepper, to taste
Heat the olive oil over medium heat, add the veggies and sauté, without browning, until they’re tender, which should take about three minutes. Add balsamic, white wine, sugar and season with salt and pepper. Cook for another minute or until the liquid is reduced until almost all of the liquid has evaporated. Pour the mixture over the mussels and transfer to the refrigerator, chilling it for at least an hour and no more than overnight.
Bruschetta
12 half-inch baguette slices, cut on a bias
1 teaspoon olive oil
salt, to taste
3 large basil leaves, “chiffonade” or sliced into very thin strips.
Preheat oven to 375F.
Brush baguette slices with olive oil, sprinkle with salt then bake until just toasted. While they’re baking, pull the escabeche from the fridge to bring it up closer to room temp.
Once the bread slices are nice and toasted, place three on each plate and top with a small pile of the mussel escabeche then garnish with basil threads.
Tip of the Trade: How to Beard Mussels
Before cooking mussels, they have to be soaked, “bearded” (meaning you have to remove what’s technically called the byssal threads), and then cleaned. First, soak the mussels in clean water for about 15 minutes to loosen any sand stowaways. Next, grab hold of the beard (using a dry towel or even tweezers helps keep your grip on the slippery sucker) and give it a yank, pulling toward the hinged end of the mussel. (Pulling toward the opening end can kill the mussel.) Lastly, clean the shells and edge with an abrasive scrub pad under running water. Now you’re ready to cook.
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