#13 Getting Wild with Mussel Fritters
Numerous friends over the years had referred to it... but it was only this weekend where I had the opportunity to experience it myself... the Vigor Brown Street Wild Foods Festival. It is a backyard private party potluck dinner on a public scale. The host's challenge to guests, if you were game, was the requirement to bring a dish that was arguably wild... and one that you would be prepared to eat. Gladly taking up on the mission, I of course went and referenced the Great NZ Cookbook for inspiration. There was one stand out "Wild Food Salad" contributed by Peter Peeti - known for his "Kai time on the road" television series. The Wild Food Salad looked delicious, however, a key ingredient was piko piko, a fern shoot. With there being over 300 hundred varieties of fern shoots in NZ bush and some of them being carcinogenic, you really need to know the correct type to pick. Not having a ready safe source on hand, I had to abandon this dish but totally resolved to come back to it.
The sea is pretty wild, so I went for Simon Gault's mussel fritters instead. The recipe uses the green-lipped mussels, which Simon describes as New Zealand seafood heroes. The trick with the mussel preparation is that you remove all the tough bits of the mussels once you have steamed them open. You need to remove the tongues and the main round muscle, before cutting them up. Along with the no surprises flour, salt, eggs, milk, baking powder, onion going into the batter, was a decent amount of parmesan cheese. You then just need to throw in the prepared mussels and you are ready to pan fry a generous spoonful at a time. These were simply superb, but if your taste buds were up to more excitement there was the option of preparing the fried capers to scatter on top. There was also a mascarpone, lemon concoction for the side, and to strictly adhere to the instructions fresh pea tendrils for a garnish.
I could rightly enter the festival, clutching my baking tray of wild mussel fritters. In the true spirit of the event, there were numerous wild artefacts including welcoming goat on stick figures at the entrance, hanging pheasant, goat spit and fantastic murals and artworks, even a wild fountain. The line up of food was impressive and I was keen to try as many wild and wacky foods I could, although I must admit I did give the breast milk dessert a swerve... I bet it came from a wild female mammal riding a cock!
The sea is pretty wild, so I went for Simon Gault's mussel fritters instead. The recipe uses the green-lipped mussels, which Simon describes as New Zealand seafood heroes. The trick with the mussel preparation is that you remove all the tough bits of the mussels once you have steamed them open. You need to remove the tongues and the main round muscle, before cutting them up. Along with the no surprises flour, salt, eggs, milk, baking powder, onion going into the batter, was a decent amount of parmesan cheese. You then just need to throw in the prepared mussels and you are ready to pan fry a generous spoonful at a time. These were simply superb, but if your taste buds were up to more excitement there was the option of preparing the fried capers to scatter on top. There was also a mascarpone, lemon concoction for the side, and to strictly adhere to the instructions fresh pea tendrils for a garnish.
I could rightly enter the festival, clutching my baking tray of wild mussel fritters. In the true spirit of the event, there were numerous wild artefacts including welcoming goat on stick figures at the entrance, hanging pheasant, goat spit and fantastic murals and artworks, even a wild fountain. The line up of food was impressive and I was keen to try as many wild and wacky foods I could, although I must admit I did give the breast milk dessert a swerve... I bet it came from a wild female mammal riding a cock!
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