Mussel dish with Jeroen Achtien **

The mussel season has begun and to celebrate Jeroen Achtien invited me to his two Michelin star restaurant Inter Scaldes. Together we boarded the mussel boat from Jos and set sail to discover everything about mussels. Did you for example know you can eat fresh mussels raw, just like oysters. The texture is super nice and you really taste the pureness of the mussel. We them went back to his restaurant because Jeroen challenged me to create a mussel dish for his menu. We both had super nice idea’s and after some jamming and long talks we came up with this mussel dish. The dish we’re making is created to honor the mussels, It’s a mussel flan with fig leaf marinaded chorizo, a variety of local herbs and flowers, mussels from the konro grill and a green tomato, fennel & fig leaf vinaigrette. On the side you’ll find a mussel pie tee that’s filled with a sweet and sour mussel. This is served with a Dutch paella cracker and a chorizo mayonnaise and oil.

The main dish

How to cook the mussels

Servings 10 dishes

Ingredients

• 1 kg mussels cleaned and rinsed
• 200 g white wine
• 200 g water
• 2 fig leaves

Instructions

• The mussels are already cleaned and rinsed in cold running water. This to remove any salt within the shell. 
• Now mix the water and the wine and also tear the fig leaves in smaller pieces without the core. The core can be bitter and milky. Bring this to a simmer and let it infuse for a couple of minutes before cooking the mussels. 
• The mussels are cooked a handful a time. We cook the mussels in such small quantities a time to control the cooking process. Once they open up we directly take them out and clean them straight away. This way they cook as little as possible so we can barbecue them during service.
• Now cool them and the mussel cooking liquid down as fast as possible. 
• Then pass the cooking liquid through a fine sieve and submerge the cooked mussels. This prevents them from drying out. 

Mussel flan

Servings 10 dishes

Ingredients

• 200 g mussel cooking liquid 
• 100 g egg

Instructions

• Mix the egg with the mussel cooking liquid and blend it till smooth.
• Then season the liquid with salt. 
• Now measure 30 grams in little containers and set them aside for later.
• During service or just before service you can cook the flan. During service can be a bit tricky with the time planning, but it is definitely a lot better.
• To cook the flan pour the 30 grams of base in a plate and cover the plate. Then steam the flan at 90 °C for 9 minutes (ventilation at 2). 
• Once cooked take them out of the oven and when necessary dry the plate. 

Tomato, fennel & fig leaf vinaigrette

Servings 400 grams of vinaigrette

Ingredients

The tomato broth 

• 500 g overripe tomatoes
• 300 g fennel
• 1 shallots
• 50 g sushi vinegar
• 100 g ginger syrup 
• 5 g salt
• 3 star anise
• 5 black pepper corns
• 2 sprigs basil
• Xanthan gum powder

The fig leaf oil

• 30 g fig leaves
• 150 g neutral oil I use sunflower oil 

Instructions

The tomato broth 

• First take the overripe tomatoes. Overripe tomatoes are always very delicious and sweet. Then cut them in four and transfer them into a blender.
• Now cut the shallot in half and clean it. Add it to the blender as well together with the sushi vinegar, the ginger syrup, the salt, the star anise, the black pepper corns and the basil. Now blend it till smooth. This takes at least 2 minutes because of the spices. 
• Then pour the juice on a sieve that’s lined with a rinsed clean kitchen towel or napkin and let it drain in your fridge for a couple of hours. I always leave it overnight. 
• After that pour the broth into a pan and reduce it till you’re left with 200 grams of liquid. Once reduced let it cool down. 
• Meanwhile juice the fennel in a cold juicer and add the juice to the reduced tomato liquid. 
• Now to intensify the flavor I always bind a broth with a knife tip of Xanthan gum. Really mix it well to insure all the Xanthan gum has dissolved. You’ll end up with a beautiful clear and intense broth. Then pour it into a piping bottle and keep it in your fridge for later. 

The fig leaf oil

• Transfer the fig leaves into a blender and also add the oil. Then blend it till the temperature of the oil is 65 °C. It will heat up from the friction. 
• Once that’s done pour the oil on a super fine sieve or a sieve that’s lined with a kitchen paper and let it drain for a couple of hours. I always do this in my fridge, so the oil doesn’t color from the heat.
• As a final step mix the cold broth with the fig leaf oil. It needs to be two third cold broth with one third of fig leaf oil. Gently mix it before using it. 

Chorizo oil & mayonnaise

Servings 20 dishes

Ingredients

The chorizo oil

• 100 g chorizo
• 1/4 lemon for peel
• 2 bay leaves
• 300 g neutral oil I use sunflower or grape seed oil 

The chorizo mayonnaise

• 180 g chorizo oil we just made
• 40 g egg yolk 
• 30 g sushi vinegar
• 4 g salt
• 15 g ginger syrup

Instructions

The chorizo oil

• First slice the chorizo in even slices and start pan frying them on both sides. Pan fry them till golden brown.
• Once golden add the oil with the peel from the lemon and the bay leaves. Let this simmer on the lowest heat for 1 hour.
• After the hour remove the lemon peel and the bay leaves and transfer everything into a blender. Now blend it till smooth.
• Then pass it through a fine sieve and press it with a ladle to insure you don’t waste a single drop. 
• Now let it cool down in your fridge.

The chorizo mayonnaise

• Once the oil has cooled down completely measure 180 grams into the blender and also add the egg yolk, the sushi vinegar, the salt and the ginger syrup. Make sure all the ingredients are from the fridge. When blending heat is created from the friction and that can cause the mayonnaise to split.
• Now blend it till fully emulsified. Then transfer it into a piping bottle and let it set in your fridge for at least 1 hour.

Sweet and sour base

Servings 50 dishes

Ingredients

• 100 g white wine vinegar
• 150 g white wine
• 150 g water
• 100 g sugar
• 3 g salt
• 30 g ginger 
• 30 g galangal
• 1 lemongrass
• 3 lime leaves

Instructions

• Mix the white wine vinegar with the white wine, the water, the sugar and the salt. Then cut the ginger in thin slices and do the same with the galangal and the lemongrass. Add all three to the pan with the lime leaves. 
• Bring this to a boil. Once it’s boiling turn of the heat and let it cool down out of the fridge. 
• Once cold keep it in your fridge for later.

The remaining garnish

Ingredients

• chorizo
• the fig leaf oil we made before
• the sweet and sour we made before
• fig leaves
• sea fennel
• fennel flowers
• oyster leaves

Instructions

The chorizo 

• Begin by slicing the chorizo in small cubes also known as a brunoise. 
• Now mix the cubes with some fig leaf oil and vacuum this to marinade the chorizo. Keep it in your fridge for later. 

The herbs and fennel flower

• Begin by cutting the fig leaves with a punch cutter. The one we use has the shape of very small seaweed. Now marinate it in sweet and sour.
• Also marinade the sea fennel and the fennel flowers in sweet and sour. Do this separate from each other. 
• The oyster leaves you can already pick and keep covered under a damp cloth for later. 

The pie tee

Mussel pie tee

Servings 30 dishes

Ingredients

• 300 g mussel cooking liquid
• 50 g egg
• 50 g flour
• 50 g rice flour
• 25 g corn starch
• 6 g squid inkt

Instructions

• Pour the mussel cooking liquid into a measuring cup and also add the egg, the flour, the corn flour, the corn starch and the squid ink. Now blend it till it’s a smooth batter with no lumps. To really insure there are no more lumps and to remove any small air bubbles pass the batter through a fine sieve.
• Then heat up some frying oil till the temperature is 170 °C and submerge the pie tee stamp to heat it up as well. Click here for more information. 
• Now once the stamp and oil are hot gently submerge it in the batter and dip in two more times. Then air dry the batter for 1 minute by hanging it above the hot oil.
• Once it’s dry deep fry it for a minute in the hot oil. Press the stamp to the bottom of the pan to create a little bottom on the pie tee so it can stand without falling over. 
• After that gently remove it from the stamp and continue making the pie tee’s. Now I know the drying process takes a long time, but it’s really worth it. You can also directly deep fry them, but then the pie tee’s will be very bubbly. Both are delicious, but the looks definitely also matter. 
• Now place them on a kitchen paper and keep them dry and covered for later.

Sweet and sour mussel

Servings 20 dishes

Ingredients

• 20 cooked mussels
• sweet and sour we made before

Instructions

• Marinade the cooked mussels in the sweet and sour for at least 2 hours. You can also preserve them in the liquid, but for me the flavor is then too strong and the mussels overcook. 

The remaining garnish

Ingredients

• sea lettuce
• fennel herb

The paella cracker

Paella cracker

Servings 30 dishes

Ingredients

The paella 

• 200 g Dutch pearl barley
• 100 g olive oil
• 60 g chopped shallot
• 12 g minced garlic
• 20 threads saffron
• 5 g salt
• 600 g lobster broth 
• 600 g water
• 10 g red pepper without seeds
• 2 g piment dulce
• 30 g tomato puree

The paella cracker

• 250 g cooked paella
• 125 g lobster bisque
• 125 g water
• 2 g salt
• flour
• mussels, shrimp heads & Japanese wireweed

Instructions

The paella 

• Begin by heating up the olive oil. Then add the shallot, garlic and red pepper. Now glaze it on a medium heat.
• Once softened add the piment dulce and continue heating it for another two minutes. Stir it every now and then.
• Then add the tomato puree and again heat it for another two minutes.
• Meanwhile mix the water, lobster broth, salt and saffron.
• After the two minutes add the liquid to the pan and also divide the pearl barley as even as possible. 
• Let this boil on a medium high heat for ten minutes.
• After the ten minutes stop stirring and let it boil for around 40 to 50 minutes on a low medium heat. DO this till the pearl barley is cooked and a nice crust has formed in the bottom. 

The paella cracker

• Mix all the ingredients and blend it till smooth.
• Once smooth mix for every 200 grams of base 20 grams of flour and blend it for another couple of seconds. Don’t overmix it to prevent it from forming too much gluten. 
• Now heat up a Senbei rice cracker machine at 150 °C. This machine will create a beautiful thin even crisp. 
• Before the batter is added the garnish is first baked between two sheets of parchment paper. We use a mussel, a Dutch shrimp head and the Japanese wireweed we collected before. Press the top part of the machine down slightly before baking it for 30 seconds.
• After that pipe the batter in in lines on top and bake it with no pressure between the parchment paper for 2.5 minutes. 
• Once crispy let it cool down on a flat service before keeping it dry and covered for later. 

How to finish the dish

Instructions

• Begin by steaming the flan in the steamer. 
• Now we begin by barbequing the mussels. The mussels are skewered on thin metal skewers before barbequing them for 30 seconds on each side. We sprinkled some fennel seeds on the hot coals to create an anise flavored smoke. 
• After turning the mussels both sides are glazed with a fig leaf oil. 
• For the main dish a couple dots of a chorizo mayonnaise are piped on the flan and some fig leaf marinade chorizo is placed in between. Then it’s decorated with sweet and sour fig leaves that are shaped with a punch cutter, some sweet and sour sea fennel, pickled fennel flowers and oyster leaf. 
• Now to insure the pie tee stays crispy we first lined the bottom with sea lettuce. A sweet and sour mussel is placed on top together with some fennel herb. 
• The final step is the cracker. To serve with the cracker, we pair the chorizo mayonnaise with an oil. 
• Now the dish is sent to the table where it will be finished with those beautiful barbecued mussels. 
• On each dot of mayonnaise, a mussel is placed and then the dish is finished with a delicious green tomato, fennel and fig leaves vinaigrette. Just look at that beautiful plate! 

The Pairing

Vie di Romans Sauvignon Blanc – Friuli-Isonzo, Italy

Among the leading estates of Friuli-Isonzo in north-eastern Italy, Vie di Romans has earned an international reputation for producing wines of remarkable precision and character. This 100% Sauvignon Blanc is a fine example of the estate’s philosophy: expressive, terroir-driven wines with both elegance and depth.

The wine displays an aromatic profile of ripe citrus fruit, tropical notes, and distinctive herbal nuances. On the palate, it combines vibrant acidity with impressive concentration and texture. Notably, its richness is not the result of oak ageing, but rather of harvesting the grapes at optimal ripeness, creating a Sauvignon Blanc with exceptional body, balance, and complexity. Click here for more information about the winery