#2 Belgium - Brussels, mussels and waffles.....

The next stop on our culinary tour of the World Cup in 32 dinners is Belgium.

Belgium is probably most famous for its homegrown beer and chocolate, although there is a strong influence on the cuisine from neighbouring countries Germany, France and the Netherlands.

The signature dish of Belgium is moules-frites – mussels and chips – while the most famous dessert is probably sweet waffles, or gaufres as they are known to the Flemish and Walloons, smothered in Belgian chocolate and cream. I was struggling to find a famous Belgian dish to use as a starter, but then Mr W reminded me of a starter that we had when were on our honeymoon which was brussels sprouts, and because they are in season at the moment and nice and easy to cook, I decided to make these.

The Menu 
Starter – chou de bruxelles a la flamande.
Main Course – moules a la Eddie avec frites
Dessert – warm waffles in Belgian chocolate sauce and whipped cream.

The trickiest part of the meal was (a) cleaning the mussels, and (b) getting the frites all cooked and keeping them warm until the mussels were ready. I only have a two ring hotplate and I needed to use the big one for the frites, as well as the moules, so the chips were cooked in batches and then put in the oven to keep warm.

Because we had not got home from work til after 7pm Mr W offered to clean the mussels, whilst I peeled and cut the potatoes – I was so relieved! What he didn't realise was that it would be such an arduous task because you have to pull the beardy-seaweed bits off them and then scrape all of the barnacles and gnarly bits off until they are nice and shiny and clean.

Half way through cleaning them, Mr W had noticed that some of the shells were starting to open and close and asked if this was normal, or did it mean that they had 'gone off'.  I turned to him and reassured him that this was perfectly normal and a good sign that they were still very fresh and alive. Big Mistake - the look of sheer horror and terror on his face was absolutely priceless and he screamed: "The mussels are aliiive?????" which then had me in stitches laughing because it reminded me of the cult '80s film Flash Gordon and Brian Blessed's immortal line "Gordon's aliiiiive???!!!"

We then had a discussion about whether they would feel the pain of being steamed alive, but no, we had treated them well and given them a good thorough cleaning before they were put to their death. After he got over the shock, and after I had peeled and fried the chips, it was time to cook the moules.

The traditional way of cooking them is with onions and celery, but I don't really like celery and I have strange quirks about fish. I'm a fisherman's daughter and when we were kids, when money was tight, we would have fish or lobster to eat, and because money was often tight, well, let's just say we ended up eating an awful lot of fish!! So as a teenager I rebelled against all things fishy and it is only now since moving to Paris I am learning that it really isn't so bad.

Back to the mussels. As I was saying, I'm not the biggest fan of celery and the only mussels dish my Dad could ever get me to eat was the recipe I ended up making.

The Verdict

Delicieux! And fairly easy to make, but loses 1 point for the time to clean and de-barnacle the mussels.  A very good nine out of ten.

Recipes:

Chou de bruxelles a la Flamande
This a simple dish of boiled sprouts, finished in melted butter and nutmeg. Boil the sprouts in salted water until a knife is just able to pierce them.  Drain well, then put about two table spoons of butter into a large frying pan and melt over a medium heat, add the sprouts and gently cook for a few minutes until the edges start to crisp a little and turn slightly golden brown. Take off the heat, serve and sprinkle a small dusting of freshly ground nutmeg over the hot, buttery sprouts.










Moules a la Eddie avec frites

For the moules you will need:

• 1kg of cleaned mussels
• 1 400g can of chopped tomatoes
• a good splash of olive oil (enough to cover the bottom of your pan with a thin layer)
• 4 cloves of finely chopped garlic
• 2 finely chopped shallots
• 400g of dry white wine
• 1 tsp of dried basil
• 1 tsp of dried oregano 

Method:

1. Take a large pan that has a lid and cover the bottom with a thin layer of olive oil.
2. Turn the heat to a medium setting and gently saute the chopped onions and garlic until they are just translucent, being careful NOT to brown them.
3. Add the tin of chopped tomatoes and dried herbs, and turn up the heat to a high setting so that the       tomatoes are bubbling quite vigorously.
4. Stir the tomatoes and then add the mussels into the pan of bubbling tomatoes and cover with the lid, leaving them on a high heat.
5. Leave the mussels for approximately five to seven minutes, giving them a good shake once or twice to ensure all of the mussels get a good covering of the sauce. Once they look as though they have all opened serve immediately with the frites, and a crusty baguette for dipping in the sauce.  IMPORTANT – discard any mussels that do not open, do not eat these.

Where I bought the ingredients from:
Moules, Les Huîtres du Bonhomme - 25 Boulevard Jean Jaurès, 92100 Boulogne-BillancourtAll other ingredients found at your local market or supermarket.