Moules

Next month I will be going to Belgium on business. I have a couple of friends from Belgium and have been getting tips on things to do and more importantly, things to eat and drink.

Apparently, the staple, or most common thing to eat is mussles and french fries. Sounds about right and something I could get along with easily. Here's a site that has a basic recipe: Belgian Mussels with Weissbeer Sauce

When my friend told me about that, it reminded me of the best mussles I've ever had while in Nice, France. There was this restaurant right in front of the Hall of Justice in Old Town. They served 4 different types of mussles; mussles gorgonzola, mussles provencal, and the other two escape me. I know I have it written down somewhere.

Anyway, the Moules Gorgonzola was the best one. It mussles soaked in a gorgonzola cream sauce with sun-dried tomatoes and basil. It was awesome. I've found a salad dressing that tasted almost like the sauce on the mussles, so I've made this several times at home. The sauce was a Goat Cheese salad dressing with sun-dried tomatoes and basil. I just heated that up, tossed it with steam mussles and voila. I hardly get to have any. Once Lindsay and Chris know there are mussles in the house, they hover around like vultures and finish them before I can get to them.

The Mussles Provencal was simple. A wine sauce with tomatoes, basil, and garlic tossed with the mussles. This was good as well.

Roasted Chicken with Mustard Thyme Sauce

I made this Roasted Chicken recipe Bon Apetit not too long ago and the kids thought it was the best chicken I've ever made. It was really good and tender. We'll definitely be making this again and it was super easy.

Ingredients

10 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup coarse salt
3 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Peel from 1 lemon, cut into long strips with vegetable peeler
1 bay leaf
3 large sprigs fresh thye plus 1 tspn fresh thyme leaves
1 4 1/2lb chicken


2 cups low-salt chicken broth

1 tbls butter, room temperature
1 tbls all purpose flour
2 tbls whole grain mustard

Directions

Bring 10 1/2 cups water, coarse salt, honey, lemon juice, lemon peel, bay leef, and thyme sprigs to boil in a large pot. Cool slightly, then refrigerate brine until cold. Place chicken in very large resealable plastic bag. I used a cooking bag, I couldn't find anything resealable to fit the chicken in. Add brine and seal. Refrigerate chicken 6 hours.

Drain chicken from brine; rinse and pat dry. Place chicken on plate. Let stand uncovered in refrigerator at least 2 hours and up to 24 hours

Preheat oven to 375. Place chicken on rack in roasting pan. Roast chicken 20 minutes. Add 1 cup chicken broth to roasting pan. Roast chicken another 20 minutes longer; add 1 cup broth to roasting pan. Roast chicken until thermometer inserted into thickest part of thigh registers 170 (I usually go with 160). Let chicken rest 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, pour juices from roasting pan into 2 cup measuring cup. Add more broth if needed to equal 2 cups. Simmer butter in medium saucepan over medium heat until beginning to brown; about 2 minutes. Add flour; stir 1 minute. Whisk broth mixture; bring to boil. Stir in mustard and 1 teaspon thyme leaves. Season sauce with salt and pepper.

Slice chicken. Divide chicken amont plates. Drizzle with sauce.