so i walk out today, find that the atm at the hospital is dead, my gourmet magazine's not yet arrived, and the fruit vendor on the corner took the day off. luckily, i ran into allen, an ex-suitemate, and we caught up while talking shit about school.
i then ventured beyond campus and bought a cheap bottle of vermouth, a fortified white wine (thanks williams sonoma kitchen companion!), with the intention of making me some seafood. i watched "big night" the other day and was inspired by tony shaloub's stubborn devotion to food. i didn't care for the movie's inconclusive end, but i suppose finishing anything off with a breakfast of eggs and crusty bread is good enough for me.
i did some online digging on manhattan fish markets. the most reputable (sayonara fulton fish market) have all moved up to the bronx for greener pastures and lower rents, so i decided to try my chances with local fishmongers. i clicked to google maps, which is amazing in its own right (the satellite feature lets me see people's driveways!), but quite unreliable when it comes to locating businesses. it often mistakes manhattan & brooklyn listings, is unable to find certain locations, and keeps listing businesses that have long closed down. today i attempted to check out what was supposed to be atlantis fish market on 110th between broadway & amsterdam and instead, found a synagogue. however, in my own bemused wanderings, i located a decent looking fish market a block away from the lion's head pub and got myself a $4 bag of mussels.
ignoring the warnings of anthony "no fish on monday" bourdain, i proudly toted home my bag of half-frozen mollusks. since i was cooking for one (tragic, non?) and wouldn't dream of reheating mussels in tupperware, i dutifully picked through the shells (tossing away about 1/5 of them that had opened up), cleaned them, and set aside half for a future dinner for one.
loosely following the french preparation for moules mariniere, i cooked some diced onion & garlic in butter, added a few splashes of dry vermouth, a grind of black pepper and a pinch of dried herbs (for lack of a bouquet garni). in went the mussels and within a few minutes, every last one of those suckers opened up beautifully.
i hit a bit of a speed bump when my fettucine refused to cook up on time (what, 13 minutes & still not enough??) while the mussels cooled. once acceptably al dente, i quickly tossed the noodles in the reduced white wine & mussel broth, threw the mussels back in to warm up and plated an overflowing dish of seafood:
i was a disappointed by the fact that i reduced the broth too much and my mussels were a little dry (so i was robbed of the pleasure of slurping their juices out of the shell), but they were quite sweet, tender and satisfyingly plentiful.
