As posted, the first course was Moules Mariniere and second course Steak Au Poivre with Herbes Frites.
We made a few modifications to the recipes and techniques and also have a few tips to share.
Moules Mariniere:
- The recipe called for about 4lbs of mussels to serve 4. We decided to get 2lbs since we were only making dinner for two. The mussels looked nice and large in the Whole Foods case, but upon closer inspection at home, we found about 14/ - 1/3 of them to be "dead" meaning they were open. Since this was a relatively expensive treat at $5.99/lb, we would next time make sure to ask the seafood guy to not to give us any dead ones. There was still plenty of mussels to go around for two as a first course, however.
- Don't forget the bread! We forgot this crucial ingredient to sopping up the sauce, a must-have for this type of dish. However, we had some plain white sliced bread in our fridge which did the job nicely, toasted.
- We used dry thyme since the grocer was out of fresh, which was perfectly fine.
This was a delicious and simple dish, the sauce being the best part in my opinion.
Steak Au Poivre:
- We also halved the recipe and instead purchased 2 NY steaks. However, the recipe calls for 4 to 6 oz steaks and we realized upon coming home that we had purchased two steaks, EACH weighing 16oz! That was fine w/ us as we are big meat-eaters However, we mistakenly forgot to adjust the cook time in the oven. The recipe calls for a few minutes of searing and 5 minutes in the oven to finish. We did just that but realized 10 minutes after the steaks were out that they needed more time. So the steaks went in for an additional 8 minutes and were perfectly medium rare when they came out.
- Crushing the peppercorns was hard without a mortar and pestle. We put them in a zip bag and first used a meat pounder. That didn't do the job quite right. We then rolled a wooden rolling pin over the peppercorns. This did result in crushing, however, the pieces were inconsistent as we later found out while eating the steaks. Next time we would use a small grinder of food processer for more consistent and finer grinding.
- We purchased a ready-made "demi-glace" at Whole Foods which you combine with 4 parts water to make a veal stock. It made exactly one cup and this was a lifesaver as we would not have had the time or energy to make home-made veal stock for two people let alone for a mere two steaks. This was found in the dry goods section of Whole Foods near the vinegars, mustards, etc.
Steak Au Poivre was deceptively easy with the ready-made demi-glace (which had great veal flavor). I could do without the crushing of the peppercorn and next time, will try using coarsely ground pepper usiung my automatic grinder. Also next time, I would get one 16 oz steak and split in two as Tim and I were only able to finish half our steak.
Herbes Frites:
- Since Tim is watching his diet and because we wanted to opt for a healthier version than deep frying, we decided to do "oven fries." The recipe was followed exactly with the exception of coating the fries in olive oil and putting them in the oven at 400 degrees. Note, we did not soak the potatoes in water as the recipe instructed as this was not necessary -- this is a step taken when deep frying to remove starch from the potatoes so they do not stick together.
- A note on stickiness - although we coated the potatoes with olive oil before baking, next time, we will make sure to spray the foil as well w/ nonstick as some of the potatoes stuck to the foil.
- At 400 degrees, the potatoes were cooked after 20 minutes, but not brown and crispy. We got that effect by putting them on high broil for 5 minutes which created a nice crust.
I would definitely make these oven fries again, as they tasted relatively good compared to french fries. I would next time try an herb mixture of chives and/or rosemary instead of the chevril, parsley, or thyme which is what the recipe recommended.
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