Recently we joined a group for dinner at a French bistro.

Others dug into rilletes and onion soup hidden under a heavy layer of Gruyère, cassoulet and steak frites. We, still feeling guilty about all the Easter candy consumed pre- and post-holiday, opted for the steak tartare and moules marinière, steamed mussels.

As we devoured mussel after plump mussel, we pondered:

This is such an easy to make, better-for-you, delicious dish. Why do we no longer make it at home?

It turns out that our chief obstacle, sand, no longer exists.

Wild mussels can be quite sandy, requiring soaking after soaking. We lacked the patience for it, especially when after all the soaking we still bit into grains of sand.

But these days, most mussels don’t grow on the ocean floor; they’re farm raised, in bags that hang vertically on ropes above the ocean floor. They’re pretty sand-free. (Yay!)

All you need is a good fish store; and you can even find quality frozen mussels that do the trick (check out VitalChoice.com—no thawing required, just pop them in the pot).

 
Many Recipe Variations

After you’re comfortable with the basic recipe, you can go all out with seasonings.

Flex Mussels in New York City serves 21 different recipes, from the classics to cuisine-specific riffs from Indian (cinnamon, curry, garlic, star anise, white wine) to Thai (coconut broth, coriander, curry, kaffir lime, lemongrass, lime, ginger, garlic).

If you’re old enough to remember Alice’s Restaurant—the hit song, which begat the feature film and cookbook—Alice liked to vary her recipes. On steamed mussels, she commented:

“Tomatoes and oregano make it Italian; wine and tarragon make it French. Sour cream makes it Russian; lemon and cinnamon make it Greek. Soy sauce makes it Chinese; garlic makes it good.”

Now, let’s get ready to make mussels!

HOW TO BUY & CLEAN MUSSELS

For dinner, figure two-thirds of a pound of mussels in the shell per person—more for hearty eaters. Leftover mussels are delicious the next day, either warmed or chilled with a green salad and vinaigrette.

Mussels and other some other bivavles (clams, cockles, oysters) are sold live, kept cold on ice. Unlike other seafood, once a bivalve is no longer alive, the flesh decomposes quickly.

Buy mussels with moist shells (not dry-looking) that are tightly closed, with no external blemishes. Western mussels have black shells. You may find New Zealand mussels, which have green shells and tend to be meatier.

Even if you buy farm-raised mussels, you may want still want to go through the classic rinsing process.

What about partially opened mussels?

Most people who cook bivalves know to discard these: They may be dead. But here’s a trick:

Tap them firmly a few times with a spoon or other implement. If they’re alive, they will slowly close their shells. If there’s no motion, consider them dead and toss them in the trash.

And definitely toss any mussels with cracked shells prior to cooking. Bacteria may have entered through the crack.

What if you’re not going to cook the mussels immediately?

You can keep the mussels for a few days if you place them in a bowl or other container in the coldest part of the refrigerator (generally the rear of the bottom shelf). First line the bowl with a plastic storage bag filled with ice resting on top. Cover with a damp paper towel.

Ingredients For 6 Servings

 
Preparation

1. COMBINE the first six ingredients (through the cayenne) in a large pot, and simmer until reduced to a half cup. Strain into a large pot and add the mussels.

3. MAKE the sauce: Add the butter and optional salt to the liquid in the mussels pot.

MUSSELS FRA DIAVOLO

Fra diavolo means “brother devil” in Italian, a nickname given to a Neapolitan guerrilla leader in his feisty childhood. The spicy-hot recipe was named in his honor. (The Italian word for mussels is cozza, plural cozze, pronounced CUT-sah and CUT-say).)

The recipe features marinara sauce (you can use tomato paste and tomato purée) and heat from crushed red pepper.

Here’s a recipe from Chef Jasper White.

In Italy, it is often served atop a dish of linguine.

So we weren’t surprised at how much we liked the new varieties, both comprising two swirled flavors:

 
The flavors are available now at Whole Foods Market locations nationwide, $4.99 per 14-ounce container. For more information visit CiaoBellaGelato.com.

We love ice cream and gelato* experience made us realize how truly wonderful a finet sorbet is. The emphasis is on “fine.”

While the gelato comforted us with its creaminess, the sorbetto woke our taste buds and made them dance. We felt not only happy, but lucky to be tasting such a wonderful incarnation of blueberries and passion fruit.

 
*In the U.S., there is no federal standard for gelato, so anything can be called gelato. However, here’s the difference between American ice cream and Italian-style gelato.

Mascarpone is often refer to as Italian cream cheese; but please, don’t think of this rich, lush, soft fresh cheese as anything resembling a brick of foil-wrapped cheese† filled with gum.

Made from cream, not milk, mascarpone is the richest fresh cheese, ranging in butterfat content from 70% to 75%. As points of reference:

 
Mascarpone is delicate in flavor, with a color not surprisingly like that of fresh cream. In the U.S., mascarpone is most often associated with desserts, especially the classic tiramisu or as a topping for berries.

Pronounce It Correctly!

Mascarpone may have the distinction of being the most misspelled and mispronounced cheese. Too many Americans call it “marscapone.”

The correct pronunciation is mas-car-POH-neh. It is not, let us repeat not, mar-sca-POH-neh.

The cheese is believed to have originated in the Lombardy region of Italy, in the late 1500s or early 1600s. Lombardy, in the northern part of the country (it includes the cities of Brescia, Cremona, Mantova, Milano and Sondrio), has a rich agricultural and dairy heritage.

The name likely derives from “mascarpia,” the local dialect term for ricotta, because both ricotta and mascarpone are made by very similar processes. Mascarpone could have been a glorious accident in the preparation of ricotta. No cheese starter or rennet is used in its production; the moisture is drained from heavy cream using a small amount of citric acid and finely woven cloth.

You can make it at home. Here’s a recipe.

†Philadelphia Cream Cheese, for example, consists of milk and cream, whey protein concentrate, salt, carob bean gum, xanthan gum and cheese culture.
  

[2] You can get a jar of pesto at any supermarket (photo © DeLallo).

We love lasagna, and try most recipes we come across to see if they’re better than Mom’s.

Here’s a vegetarian version with polenta and pesto (you of course can add sausage or other meat). Gluten-free polenta replaces the traditional wheat noodle lasagna.

The recipe was created by Loretta Lamont for Sauces ’n Love, one of our favorite lines of Italian sauces, Loretta used Sauces ‘n Love marinara and pesto sauces.

We made our own variation, sprinkling oregano over the ricotta layer and adding crumbled sausage over the second pesto layer.

Prep time is 30 minutes, cook time is 20 minutes.
 
 
RECIPE: POLENTA & PESTO LASAGNA

Ingredients For 2 Servings

1. PREHEAT the oven to 375°F. Spray a 11” × 7” baking dish with Pam.

2. MIX the ricotta with the egg, garlic powder, pepper and 1/2 cup mozzarella.

3. PLACE a little sauce on the bottom of the baking dish, topped with a single layer of polenta. Spread a layer of pesto on top of the polenta.

4. SPREAD the ricotta over the pesto; sprinkle on the optional oregano or the sausage. Arrange the sliced mozzarella on top of the pesto. Add a layer of sauce on top of the mozzarella followed by another layer of polenta.

5. TOP with the shredded Italian cheese and sauce Bake for 40 minutes. Top with the remaining cheese and pine nuts and broil until the cheese and nuts are browned. Let rest for 20 minutes before serving.

 
WHAT IS POLENTA?

Polenta is the Italian word for cornmeal as well as a cooked dish made from it. In the first two centuries of America, our diets contained much cornmeal—in bread, breakfast cereal (cornmeal mush is cooked polenta) and other recipes.

In the 19th century, cornmeal was largely replaced by refined wheat flour. Polenta is also refined: It is degerminated cornmeal, with the germ and endosperm removed.

Here’s a delicious polenta stack appetizer recipe, and more ways to use polenta.
  

There’s American fried rice (with sliced hot dogs, popular in Thailand), curry fried rice, Filipino garlic fried rice, Indonesian fried rice (nasi goreng), kimchi fried rice and much, much more. Take a look.

Then, perusing some online photos from PF Chang’s, we found this photo of quinoa fried rice, topped with a fried egg. So today’s tip is:

When you have leftover cooked grains of any kind, turn them into “fried rice.”

Of course, you don’t need leftovers. You can cook the grains from scratch for the recipe. In addition to those you commonly cook, this is an opportunity to try something new from this list:

Have “fried rice” topped with an egg for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Photo courtesy PF Changs.

RECIPE: QUINOA FRIED RICE

If you want to serve a cooked egg on top of the quinoa, you can opt to leave out the raw eggs that get scrambled into the grain at the end. We prefer using both.

You also can add leftover corn, beans, or what-have-you. If the item is soft (cooked zucchini, e.g.), add it at the end to warm it, without cooking it further.

And of course, dice any leftover meat or seafood and add it at the end, also to warm.

Ingredients For 3 Servings

 
*If cooking from scratch for this recipe, cool the grain to room temperature, or preferably overnight in the fridge.

Preparation

1. MIX the sauce: Combine the teriyaki sauce, soy sauce and sesame oil in a small bowl. Set aside.

2. FRY or poach the eggs and keep warm.

2. HEAT ½ tablespoon of the olive oil in a large sauté or frying pan over a high heat. Add onion and carrots and cook for two minutes.

4. ADD 2/3 of the scallions, the garlic and the ginger to the pan. Cook for another two minutes. Add the rest of the olive oil and the quinoa. Stir-fry about two minutes.

5. ADD the sauce and stir-fry until incorporated, about two minutes. Make a well in the center of the quinoa; add the raw eggs and stir to scramble.

6. ADD the peas and stir until they are warmed through. Top with the optional fried/poached egg, garnish with the remaining scallions and serve.

According to culinary historian Karen Hess, Jefferson was “our most illustrious epicure, in fact, our only epicurean President.”

He loved his veggies, stating that they “constitute my principal diet.” His favorites: tennis-ball lettuce, Brown Dutch lettuce, prickly-seeded spinach and for fruit, Marseilles figs. He sought out new produce varieties from the foreign consuls in Washington, and is credited with introducing broccoli to mainstream America.

He is credited with popularizing fried eggplant, French fries, johnny-cakes, gumbo, mashed potatoes, peanuts, sesame seed oil and sweet potato pudding, among other dishes, blending colonial cuisine with African (slave), Colonial, Creole, European and Native American traditions.[Source]

At the time Jefferson left to serve as minister to France, in 1784, the mainstays of American colonial cooking were primarily meats—baked, boiled, roasted or stewed—breads, heavily sweetened desserts and [generally] overcooked vegetables. [Source]

The sophistication of French cuisine and his travel to another culinary stronghold, Italy, broadened his perspective. He returned to America with recipes, foodstuffs (French wine, olive oil and vanilla beans) and cooking gear, including a pasta machine.

Long before the invention of the crank ice cream machine, strong-armed kitchen staff would whisk the mix in a vat set in a bowl of ice. Photo courtesy Nielsen Massey.

Ultimately taking charge of the kitchen at Jefferson’s Paris home, the gifted young man cooked for some of the most distinguished and discriminating people in France. As a freed man, he continued to work as a chef.

Upon his return from France in 1789, Jefferson brought 200 vanilla beans and an ice cream recipe. [Source: IceCream.com]

There were no ice cream machines—the hand-cranked version had yet to be invented, in 1843—so strong-armed kitchen staff would hand-whisk the mixture in a bowl placed in a vat of ice.

The result had a mousse-like consistency rather than the freezer-hardened ice cream we know today. But chilled and creamy, and flavored with exotic vanilla beans, it was a delight of high society (only the wealthy could afford the vanilla, the labor and the ice).

Jefferson’s original, hand-written recipe is housed in the Library of Congress. Nielsen-Massey, vendor of premium vanilla beans from around the world, adapted the original recipe so you can make it at home.

It calls for 1¼ cups of sugar, a saucepan and an ice cream maker, instead of a half-pound of sugar, an open cooking fire and a very strong person or two to churn it by hand.

Ingredients

 
Preparation

1. WHISK together the egg yolks and sugar until creamy and lightened in color. Set aside.

2. PLACE the cream in a saucepan. Split the vanilla bean in half lengthwise with the tip of a small knife. Scrape both sides of the bean with the knife’s dull side and add the seeds and bean to the cream. Place the saucepan over medium heat until the mixture is nearly boiling.

3. REMOVE the cream mixture from the heat, and very slowly add ½ cup of the hot cream to the egg yolk mixture, whisking constantly. Pour the now-warmed egg yolk mixture into the hot cream, whisking to combine.

4. RETURN the saucepan to the stove, stirring constantly over medium heat until the mixture is thick and coats the back of a spoon. Remove from the heat and strain through a fine mesh sieve. Allow mixture to chill in the refrigerator for several hours or overnight.

5. CHURN the ice cream in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s directions.

 
*You can use Tahitian or Mexican vanilla beans in place of the conventional Madagascar Bourbon vanilla beans to highlight different vanilla flavors. You can also susbstitute vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract: 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste is equivalent to 1 vanilla bean.