delicious Australia – June 2017

Chip, chip, hooray! Inspired by a trip to Belgium,

Elena Duggan pairs cider-cooked mussels with

her utterly irresistible thrice-cooked frites.

@elena_jo_duggan

MOULES FRITES

SERVES 2

100g unsalted butter

4 Asian (red) eschalots, finely chopped

1 celery stalk, finely chopped

1 tbs Dijon mustard (we used

Woolworths Macro)

330ml apple cider

1kg mussels, scrubbed, debearded

(^1) / 2 bunch dill fronds, plus extra to serve
1 Pink Lady apple, cut into matchsticks
Extra virgin olive oil and lemon, to serve
TRIPLE-COOKED CHIPS
500g large royal blue potatoes, cut into
1.5cm-thick chips
Sunflower oil, to deep fry
(^1) / 2 tsp ground lemon myrtle (optional)
For chips, bring a large pan of salted water
to the boil. Add potatoes and cook for
5 minutes or until just cooked. Drain and
pat dry with paper towel. Place on a wire
rack in freezer for 20 minutes to dry out.
Half-fill a deep-fryer or large saucepan
with oil and heat to 150°C (a cube of bread
will turn golden in 1 minute 20 seconds
when oil is hot enough). In batches,
deep-fry potatoes, turning halfway, for
5 minutes or until light golden. Remove
with a slotted spoon and pat dry with
paper towel. Return to wire rack and freeze
for a further 15 minutes or until cooled.
Meanwhile, discard any mussels that do
not close when tapped sharply. To cook
mussels, melt butter in a saucepan over
high heat. Add eschalot and celery, and
cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes
or until soft. Add mustard and cider, and
bring to the boil. Add mussels, then cover
and cook, shaking pan occasionally, for
3 minutes or until mussels start to open.
To finish chips, increase oil temperature
to 190° (a cube of bread will turn golden in
30 seconds when the oil is hot enough). In
batches, cook chips for 3 minutes or until
golden and crisp. Remove with a slotted
spoon and drain on paper towel. Season
with salt and lemon myrtle, if using.
Toss mussels with dill, then top with
apple and drizzle with oil. Serve with chips
and lemon cheeks.
TRIPLE’ICIOUS
WORDS & RECIPE
ELENA DUGGAN
PHOTOGRAPHY
CHRIS COURT
STYLING
KIRSTEN JENKINS
PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHY
NETWORK TEN/KELLY GARDNER
delicious.com.au/recipes For more of Elena’s recipes.
BACK IN MY TEACHING days I had the privilege of taking some students to Europe.
We had the best time, made many treasured memories and ate lots of new food.
More recently, I was with my sister in Bruges, Belgium, where we just about ate our
weight in moules frites. Back home, we re-created many versions of this national
treasure, and I don’t think there was one we didn’t enjoy.
For this month’s recipe, I’ve given moules frites an Aussie makeover. I love pairing
seafood with fruit, and here I’ve used apples – instead of serving it with beer, I’m
cooking with apple cider. We’re producing such a wide variety of wonderful ciders
at the moment, including some great lower-carb ones that are fabulous to cook with.
And instead of dressing the seafood with lemon, I’m tossing the triple-cooked chips
the judges loved in my MasterChef audition in my favourite lemon myrtle and salt.
They may be a ‘sometimes’ food, but they are also one of the things friends and family
request I cook the most. Any chips that aren’t inhaled at first sight are perfect for
absorbing all those mussel juices. Utterly delicious!
MASTERCHEF.
50 delicious.com.au