Last night was a momentous one in my cooking explorations. We gave a country meal our highest rating yet!
The possibilities for Belgian recipes seemed endless. Clearly, this is a culinarily advanced country. Belgium actually has the most Michelin star rated restaurants per capita than any other European country! After serious consideration, I settled on steamed mussels with pommes frites and a brussel sprout gratin.
The mussels were simply prepared by steaming them with garlic, shallots, parsley and white wine. The brussel sprouts were baked in the oven with bacon, cream, and gruyere cheese. But the real standout, and the true national pride of Belgium, were the fries. After browsing through several "one and only Belgian fry" recipes, I discerned a few tricks of the trade:
1) Use starchy potatoes such as Russet.
2) Cut the fries in a uniform size, approximately one centimeter square. And square off the ends, as pointed ends tend to burn.
3) Fry in small batches until just lightly colored, four to five minutes. Once all fries have received their first oil bath, re-fry them for just a minute or two until browned and crispy.
4) Add salt, and serve with mayonnaise.
If all else fails, Ted certainly has a promising future as a fry cook. I did all of the peeling and cutting, but he actually cooked the potatoes. And he did a bang-up job. These were some of the best fries I have ever tasted, and were well worth the effort. I am not a big fan of mayonnaise, so dipped mine in the mussel broth instead. Every component of this meal was fabulous, and a recipe I would make again and again.
4.25 for Belgium.
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