Warm Mussel Salad with Gaeta Olives and Oranges

Still no baby so it's back to the kitchen with The Babbo Cookbook in hand. The weather has been beautiful this past week with a few days even making it near 80° so a light salad out of the book will be my dinner for the night. 

The warm weather also prompted me to head to my local Home Depot to buy garden supplies. I bought some seeds and a few seed starter kits along with soil to get things going. Last year my work schedule from my previous job made it impossible to have a garden, but this year will be different. 

I plan on having quite a few tomato plants, tons of lettuce, a separate herb garden, and a few miscellaneous veggies that I'll try growing including some Babbo specific varieties that just never seem to be in my local Whole Foods. Opal basil? Never. Cardoons? They've never head of it. Making salami was one thing but how many people would grow their own produce for a cookbook? It's certainly a first for me but I'll do what what it takes to finish the book. 

But back to my meal. Mario mentions in the recipe liner notes that he loves warm seafood salads. This one was simple to make and has all of the components to be a great dish so I'm going to get right into it. 

The star of the meal, the mussels, were fresh and of the Prince Edward Island variety. I scrubbed them clean and de-bearded them before starting. 

In a sauté pan I boil chopped onion, thyme sprigs, and white wine. I add the mussels, cover them with a lid to trap in the steam, and cook them until they open. This takes about five minutes. 

Once cooked I set the mussels aside to cool and remove them from the shell. 

While the mussels were cooking I brought orange juice to a boil and reduced it by half. When reduced I cooled it and whisked in olive oil and more orange juice to make a citronette. The citronette gets seasoned with salt and pepper to finish. 

Now it's time to make the salad. In a mixing bowl I add frisée, radicchio, scallions, orange segments, olives, and sherry vinegar. 

The warm mussels get added, are seasoned, and tossed to coat. 

I plate the salad, drizzle some of the citronette around the greens and plate, and top with freshly grated orange zest. 

It looks like I was right. The salad was amazing. One of my favorites so far. 

Quality of ingredients plays a key role in this salad again but everything works. It's simple enough for anyone to replicate. My wife and I finished off the rather large serving that this recipe yielded. 

Baby watch continues. I promise to post pictures as soon as she is born. She's a little late, and we are more than ready to welcome her into the world, but it's really just a waiting game at this point. Meanwhile I will keep cooking Babbo. Until next time...