Spicy Steamed Italian Mussels with Fresh Tomatoes and Capers

Some of my best memories as a kid, was spending time with my family on the shores of Cape Cod, Massachusetts! Every year we used to go camping in my parents RV at the same campground, "Coastal Acres Campground" located in Provincetown, first landing place of the Pilgrims. The town is well known for it's diversity and it has been a haven for artists, writers, and lovers of nature! The campground where we had stayed was central to the town, the piers, great fishing, and some of the best spots for harvesting fresh mussels!

As kids, my brother and I would climb down a rocky break wall which lead all the way down to the water. We would look silly with our buckets in hand as we would reach into a crevice to seek out what may be lurking amid the rocks! Occasionally a finger would be pinched by a renegade crab! No matter, we would still always fill our buckets with what we came for, mussels! It was a blast! We would then take our harvested mussels, and my father would drive us all down to the beach in the RV. We would back in and get all set up to eat steamed mussels right on the beach! Those were the days! The thing is, we would obsessively do this year after year!

Here is my own changed up version to a recipe my mother used to make!

Ingredients

4 pounds mussels
1 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
¼ cup Prosciutto (thick sliced), and cut into ¼” dice
1 medium vidalia onion, sliced in half then into thin half round slices
2 garlic cloves, minced
4 sprigs fresh thyme
Pinch red pepper flakes
1 cup dry white wine or vermouth
1 lemon, (reserve zest) and juiced
fresh ground pepper
2 medium heirloom tomatoes (for color), peeled, seeded and cut in large dice
1 tablespoon capers, chopped
½ cup roughly chopped Italian parsley
2 tablespoons unsalted butter

Directions

Rinse the mussels under cold running water while scrubbing with a vegetable brush. Discard any with broken shells. Heat oil and butter in a 6 to 8-quart stockpot. Sauté the Prosciutto, onion, garlic, thyme and red pepper flakes to create a base flavor. Add the mussels and give them a good toss. Add wine, lemon juice, and season with some fresh ground pepper; cover the pot and steam over medium-high for 5 minutes until the mussels open. Toss in the tomatoes, capers, parsley, reserved lemon zest and butter, recover the pot, and steam for another minute to soften. The tomatoes should keep their bright colors and their shape. Serve with plenty of Italian bread to sop up the broth.

Alton Brown and Good Eats: Good Eats Poll: How Much Longer Will it Last?

Alton Brown and Good Eats: Good Eats Poll: How Much Longer Will it Last?

Tips for using leftover coffee

Java anyone? The bean of the Coffea canephora or Coffea arabica plant has many complex flavors. Depending on how it is roasted, the flavor components are heightened. The picked berries from these plants are processed and dried. What results is a flavorful seed. These seeds are then roasted at temperatures around 200 C (392 F), during which the sugars in the bean caramelize, the bean changes color, and the flavor develops.

The beans are roasted to a light, medium, or dark brown color, depending on the desired flavor. Keeping this in mind, an aspiring chef or even a home cook with the right amount of knowledge can create unique creations using the ground beans, or some freshly brewed coffee. In this instance, however, we are contemplating using whatever is leftover in the pot, or the filter.

Sweet and savory dishes benefit greatly with the addition of coffee. Sweet temptations such as fudge, pies, cakes, pastries, candy, or even a creme brulee made with coffee along with the addition of chocolate, cinnamon, or even chilies can tempt the taste-buds. Reduction can even help to make your coffee base even stronger. How about some fresh cafe mocha ice cream with a spiced chocolate topping and coffee bean praline? It sounds delectably decadent! As for the beans, I have used them in Mexican moles, wet rubs, dry rubs, and I have even made a coffee barbecue sauce. My favorite thing to do with leftover coffee, is to combine equal amounts of sugar and coffee in a saucepan and heat to boiling. Once the sugar has completely dissolved, reduce the heat to a simmer and add a cinnamon stick. Continue simmering for about ten minutes longer then turn off the heat.

Let your syrup cool, then strain and store. This syrup makes a great addition to a drink I call, Mayan Delight. You simply rim a martini glass lightly with a little syrup then dip in unsweetened cocoa powder. Mix in a shaker half filled with ice, two and a half ounces of vodka to one ounce coffee syrup and one ounce Kahlua. Shake, pour and enjoy! As you can clearly see, the coffee bean is a very versatile ingredient. So the next time you have that last bit of coffee in that pot, save it for inspiration.

Red Whisky Barbecue Sauce

Here's a 4th of July recipe for you all! It's my own creation and I know you will all appreciate it. It's my own version of a kicked up spicy "JW" Red Whisky Barbecue Sauce using a few fresh ingredients!

1/2 vidalia or Mayan onion, finely chopped

4 fresh cloves garlic, finely minced

2 fresh jalapenos, seeded and finely chopped

3/4 C. Johnnie Walker Red Label Whiskey

1 lb. fresh Roma tomatoes, skinned, seeded and finely chopped

1/2 t. fresh ground black pepper

1/2 t. fresh ground white pepper

1/2 T. *Celtic grey salt (or substitute sea salt)

2 C. ketchup

1/4 C. tomato paste

1/3 C. apple cider vinegar

2 T. liquid smoke flavoring

1/4 C. Worcestershire sauce

1/2 C. dark brown sugar

1/2 t. hot pepper sauce

In a large skillet over medium heat, combine the onion, garlic, jalapenos and whiskey and saute for 10 minutes, or until onion is translucent.
Add the fresh tomatoes, ground black and white pepper, salt, ketchup, tomato paste, vinegar, liquid smoke, Worcestershire sauce, Dark brown sugar and hot pepper sauce.
Mix well and bring to a boil.
Reduce heat to medium low and simmer for 20 minutes. Cool. If you want to smooth out your sauce, use an immersion blender and give a whir or two. Taste it and re-season if necessary. Enjoy!

*Available in most specialty markets

The perfect roast

One of the most flavorful cuts of beef is the prime rib. Some of the best meat in the world is sticking to these rib bones, meltingly tender and sweet with the slightly gelatinous tissue that holds them together. Make sure you choose a cut that is USDA prime with a nice marbling of fat that runs through the meat. Have your butcher remove any excess fat, and make sure he leaves about a 1/2" thick fat cap. Unfortunately for us, the more calorie-laden and artery-clogging that piece of prime beef is, the better it will taste. So if you are diet conscious, indulge infrequently - but you might as well do it right when you do it at all.

My prime rib recipe is pretty simple as long as you have a really good meat thermometer to gauge your temperature. I chose for this recipe a 4-1/2 pound prime rib for three adults and a child. A day before you are ready to cook it, season it well with kosher salt and garlic powder and let it sit overnight in the refrigerator.

The next day, slice up some garlic (4-5 cloves) and cut slits in the meat and the fat cap, and stud the roast with the garlic slivers pushing them down into the meat. Make sure you keep the fat cap on. Place the meat, bone side down on a rack in a roasting pan. Then make a paste using another 3 cloves of garlic, a pinch of salt, some fresh ground black and white pepper (about 1 tsp of each), fresh thyme and rosemary (1 tsp of each), and enough olive oil to make the paste. I put it all in a stone mortar and pound it until it reaches the right consistency.

Then I slather the fat cap with the paste and then I place it into a preheated 325 degree oven and I roast it for roughly 20 minutes per pound (1 hour 30 minutes) until it reaches an internal temperature of 120 degrees for medium rare. Take it out of the oven and let it rest until you are ready to slice individual pieces. As your meat rests, it will continue to cook for another 5 to 10 degrees. If you want it to be rare, take it out at 115 degrees. After-wards, reserve the drippings and while your meat is resting, make your au jus. Place your roasting pan over two burners and deglaze your pan using a cup of red wine. Then add 1-1/2 cups beef stock, some minced garlic, and more thyme. Reduce your au jus for about 20 minutes over medium heat and you are done!

Your prime rib roast will be perfect every time. The fat will simply melt in your mouth and you will be left with the delicious sweetness of the meat.