Mussels with Swiss Chard and Saffron Cream

I didn’t intend to make such a luxurious lunch.  It was an ordinary Saturday morning, and I was poking around in our little garden in Southampton and returned to the kitchen with my arms full of Swiss chard.  I did a quick search for chard recipes, dashed to the market for mussels and had this delicious dish on the table about a half hour after I returned.  It might be hard to go back to grilled cheese next weekend.

This is a richly flavored and elegant dish.  The fresh chard and buttery mussels swim in a soft creamy sauce with the unmistakably luxurious flavor of saffron.  It’s perfect to serve as a special lunch or the first course of a festive dinner.  It’s also very easy to prepare, and all of the ingredients are inexpensive, except for saffron. (For a source of excellent saffron at very good prices, see my post here.)

The only fiddly aspect of the recipe is that it uses four pots — a steamer for the mussles, a small saucepan for the chard ribs, a large pot to blanch the chard leaves, and another small saucepan to finish the leaves in the cream– since the various elements of the dish are cooked separately and assembled at the end.  I recommend setting them all out in advance and getting a grateful guest to do the washing up.

Recipe

(Adapted from Vegetable Harvest by Patricia Wells.  Serves four as a starter or two as a main course.)

Ingredients

2 pounds (1 kg) fresh mussels

About 10 large Swiss chard leaves

1 lemon

1 1/2 cups (350 ml) light cream

1/4 teaspoon saffron threads

salt and pepper

Instructions

1.  Prepare the mussels.  Scrub the mussels and rinse with several changes of cold water.  Mussels must be cooked alive — if you press on an open mussel, it should close.  If it doesn’t, discard it.  (Conversely, a mussel should open during cooking.  If it doesn’t, discard it.)  If you didn’t buy prepared mussels (which I recommend), debeard them just before cooking.

2.  Cook the mussels.  Boil about 1 quart (1 l) of water in a steamer.  Place the mussels in the steaming basket and season with fresh ground pepper.  Cover and steam the mussels just until they open, about 2-3 minutes.  Take the mussels out of their shells (a half shell is an excellent tool for this), reserving 8 pairs of the best looking shells to decorate the finished dish.  Set the cooked mussels aside in a bowl.

3.  Prepare the Swiss chard.  Cut the ribs out of each leaf of chard and remove any large fibrous strings from the ribs.

4.  Cut the ribs crosswise (like celery) into thin, even slices and drop them into a bowl of water with a good squeeze of lemon juice.

5.  Cook the chard ribs.  Drain the water and place the ribs in a small saucepan with 1 cup (240 ml) of the cream and a pinch of saffron threads.  Cover and bring to a simmer.  Cook until the ribs are tender, about 5 minutes.  Taste and season with salt and pepper.

6.  Cook the chard leaves.  Cut the chard leaves crosswise into a chiffonade. Bring about 3 quarts (3 l) of water to a boil.  Drop the chard leaves in the boiling water and blanch them for about 2-3 minutes.  Then, drain them and rinse them under very cold tap water.  Wring out the water with your hands and place them in a small saucepan.  Add the remaining 1/2 cup (120 ml) of the cream and a pinch of saffron threads.  Cover and simmer until just heated through.  Taste and season with salt and pepper.

7.  Assemble the dish.  Add the cooked mussels to the cream and rib mixture and reheat until warmed through.  Divide the chard leaf mixture among warmed serving bowls and then spoon the rib, mussel and cream mixture on top.  Divide any remaining cream among the servings, decorate each bowl with a pair or two of reserved shells and serve immediately.