Dinner

Why am I not posting on my garden? All the pruning and fertilising that I did for the Garden Club's visit was just a week too late - next time I know to cater for six weeks and not one month before a big event. Anyway the garden is about to burst into full colour in a day or two and I don't want to spoil the show. So I am posting on other areas of life...... I used to be a reasonable cook. But now it comes and goes. Tonight this was one of my winners so I thought I would write it down because I can never remember my recipes to recreate them. This was a mussel and shrimp tomato something in a garlicky white sauce.
I really believe that your pot has a lot to do with it - tonight I used a large Le Crueset pot that I lugged all the way from Miami a few years ago. It is perfect for white sauces. I had no butter so started with an olive oil base, 4 crushed cloves of garlic, two tablespoons of flour and about 1 1/2 cups of full cream milk. I made my roux and cooked it quite a bit before adding the milk a little at a time. I added about a cup of grated cheese, 1/2 cup of white wine and one teaspoon of mustard. If I had to change any thing - I would have used vermouth or sherry if I had had in the cupboard and added gruyere instead of cheddar....but I made do with what was in the fridge.
I then added a tin of button mushrooms (no fresh), one cup of diced frsh tomato, about 2lbs of jumbo shrimp, shelled and cleaned; and one pack of Greenshell mussles. I sprinkled half pack of Maggi taste maker and a little white pepper and covered the pot and left to simmer on low for about ten minutes.

I then cut some parsley and green onion and sprinkled over the top. I served it with linguine and red wine. I know.....this is a white wine dish but I love to break the rules. It was a big hit and maybe I'll do it again.