1 stephen ceideburg
500 g pink eye potatoes, peeled and diced
1 head fennel, trimmed and sliced thi, nly
1 1/4 kg mussels in the shell
4 tbsp small black olives
2 tomatoes, peeled, deseeded and dice, d
8 leaves basil, torn
200 ml virgin olive oil
30 ml to 40 ml white wine vinegar
1 salt, pepper
1 clove garlic, crushed
2 tsp saffron stamens
Directions
Steam potatoes until tender. Clean mussels and open by placing in a
large pan with a tight fitting lid and heating. Remove mussel meat
from shells.
Make vinaigrette by infusing saffron from stamens in 1/2 tablespoon
hot water. Rub a bowl with the crushed garlic and add oil, vinegar,
salt and pepper to taste and saffron infusion. Mix well. While
potatoes are still hot, dress liberally with the vinaigrette.
Assemble the rest of the ingredients and toss all together.
Posted by Stephen Ceideburg
From an article by Meryl Constance in The Sydney Morning Herald,
5/25/93. Courtesy Mark Herron.
Servings: 6 servings
Bistro Moncur Potato & Mussel Salad Recipe brought to you by Recipe Ideas
Categories: Fish; Potato; Salad; Seafood; Vegetable
The History of Recipes
Food historians have traced the existance of recipes far back into antiquity, in truth as far back into recorded history as ancient Egypt, and possibly even further. Interesting though that is, sadly, these ancient records were just very simple hieroglyphic instructions for food preparation.
The truth of the matter is, the most ancient recipe found, according to Professor Solomon Katz, are some stone tablets in ancient Sumerian which show the preparation of bread which is then used to make a drink, quite possibly a form of beer as it is recorded as making those who drank it feel blissful. As we move on, we have some interesting books which date from the 14th Century ; one book titled `Forme of Cury`, and another entitled `Curye on Inglish`. Amusingly, these are not about the indian curry that is served today, but rather accounts of the types of food on the menus of the rich and powerful. Later, in the fifteenth century, knights returning from the crusades brought us a variety of spices and herbs from the Middle-East, including parsley and basil. These new spices and herbs prompted a torrent in books on cookery, the majority of which still exist in private cookery archives. During the next few centuries, the rich families of the West strove to serve up the most exotic meals, and as a result the best cooks and their recipe collections were greatly in demand. Even so, it wasn`t until the nineteenth century that fine cooking and cookery books really came of age. The Famous Mrs Beeton in the UK, and Fannie Merritt Farmer in the US, dedicated years of their lives to collating, verifying, and recording the recipes that were being prepared for the better households. By the advent of the 20th century, cooking publications were greatly in demand mostly due to increased literacy, people having more leisure time and being a little richer. The revolution that is television brings us TV chefs and the recipe books that accompanied them. And that brings us to the present day and the invention of the internet, allowing everybody to search through massive numbers of recipes like those on the site you are now reading. |
We hope you enjoy this Bistro Moncur Potato & Mussel Salad recipe.
