Mussel & crispy onion cilinder bite

We're going to make a delicious crispy mussel bite. It’s an onion & potato cilinder filled with mussels, bell pepper and smoked piment.

The mussels

2 kilograms	mussels
1	shallot
5 sprigs	thyme
1 teaspoon	smoked piment powder
200 grams	white wine

Transfer the mussels in a big pot and rinse them under cold water for at least 5 minutes. The mussels that start to float you need to throw away, these are bad. Now let them drain for at least 10 minutes. Meanwhile cut the shallot in half and remove the skin. Then chop it. After that heat up a big pan and add a splash of oil. Then add the chopped shallots together with the thyme, the mussels and the smoked piment powder. Stir it and then deglaze it with the white wine. Cook them for a minute. Then let them drain and cool them down in your fridge. Keep the draining liquid for later. Once they’re cold we can clean them. Some of the mussels have a beard. These you need to remove. Take the beard, close the shell, and then pull it lose. Not every mussel has this so just check them and otherwise take them out. Then cover them and keep them in your fridge for later.

The mussel gel

First pass the draining liquid from the mussels trough a fine sieve and add 1 gram of agar powder for every 100 grams of liquid. I had 200 grams, so I added 2 grams of agar powder. Then mix it well and bring it to a boil for 1 minute. Once it has boiled pour it into a bowl and let it cool down in your fridge. Then transfer it into a blender and blend it till it’s a smooth gel.

The mussel filling

2	pointy peppers
	The mussels
2 big spoons	mussel gel
1	lemon

Take the pointy peppers and use a blowtorch to burn the skin. Then let it cool down out of the fridge. After that use a serrated knife to scrape the skin off and then cut away the end then the seeds. Then cut the peppers in small cubes we also know as brunoise. Now that’s done take your mussels and chop them into a fine tartare. You still want to have some texture, so don’t over chop it. Then transfer it into a bowl and also add the pointy pepper, the gel and the zest from a quarter of a lemon. Mix this and then keep it in your fridge for later.

The cylinder

1 big	potato
2	onions
50 grams	milk
50 grams	isomalt sugar
5 grams	salt

First peel the potato and chop it in even pieces. Now transfer them into a pan filled with cold water and boil the potatoes for around 15 minutes till cooked. Then drain them and let them dry for at least 15 minutes. Meanwhile take the onions and clean them. Now chop them. Then take a cold pan and add a drizzle of oil. Also add the onions and glaze them on a low heat. We don’t want to color the onions, only soften them. Once that’s done transfer 130 grams into a blender and also add the milk, the isomalt sugar and the salt. Blend this till completely smooth. After that transfer 280 grams of the boiled potatoes in a blender and also add the onion puree. Blend it till there are no more lumps and then directly stop mixing so it doesn’t become to gluey. Now transfer some of the batter on a silicon sheet and use a pastry comb to make long thin lines on the sheet. Just repeat the process till you’re happy with the result. Then bake it at 140 degrees Celsius till golden brown. After let it cool down for 5 minutes. Once it’s cold add another layer of the batter and spread it very tight with a pallet knife. Then bake it for 5 more minutes. After that gently remove the dough from the sheet and cut it to the desired size with some scissors or cut it with a knife. Then bake them for another 5 minutes and when still hot roll them on a shaper to shape it. Once they’re cold and crisp remove them from the roll and keep them dry and covered.

How to start to finish the bit

Fill the cylinder on both sides with the mussel tartare and then decorate the sides with some marigold flower pedals. And then they’re ready to be served.