No question there are tons of variations. Like you said, using garlic and ginger, a touch of Thai curry paste, and finishing it with coconut milk is my favourite. Great over rice.
I also love adding a bunch of red chili flakes, using beer instead of wine, or adding simple marinara sauce instead of cream.
Just for the hell of it, here’s my recipe for mussels provencale:
2 1/4 lbs mussels, cleaned
1 cup dry white wine
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 onions, chopped
1 celery stalk, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 TBSP chopped fresh basil, plus extra to garnish
bouquet garni (parsley, thyme, bay leaf)
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 lb. ripe plum tomatoes, peeled and chopped, or 1 14-oz can chopped tomatoes
salt and pepper
1 teaspoon sugar
Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan, add the onions, celery, garlic, basil and bouquet garni, and cook over low heat for 5 minutes or until softened but not browned.
Mix in the tomato paste and tomatoes, salt, pepper, and sugar, and simmer gently for 30 minutes.
Put the mussels in a pot with the wine, over high heat, and bring to a boil. Cook for a few minutes only, until the mussels have opened.
Remove the mussels from the cooking liquid and add the liquid to the prepared vegetables. Heat thoroughly and ladle into deep bowls. Top with cooked mussels and garnish with basil. Serve with crostini. Makes two hefty servings.
Although, I’m sure the first couple of replies pretty much covered it… there is such a thing as Steamed Mussels with Aioli (Garlic Mayo), and along with an order of proper skin on blanched and crisp fried belgian style french fries, you just might surpass his memory.
Yeah, I do a version of mussels with Thai red curry paste and coconut milk that seems to be a crowd pleaser.
That said, when it comes to mussles, or at least good mussels, my favorite preparation is the simple one: white wine (or gueuze), garlic, butter, a sprinkling of your favorite herbs, and that’s about it.
Great. Now I’m fucking hungry and due to extreme overtime at work because of computer issues my planned trip to the store is indefinitely on hold.
Thanks a lot, Dope!
:mad:
Several times recently I have seen or heard people discounting the myth of unopened mussles. Here is Dr Karl, Australia’s Cecil Adams on the subject.
*Look at the influential cookery books of the 1960s, such as Larousse Gastronomique in 1965 and Italian Food by Elizabeth David in 1966.
These books made absolutely no mention of discarding unopened mussels.
The myth seems to have been started by the English food writer, Jane Grigson in her 1973 publication, Fish Book.
The exact quote is:
Throw away any mussels that refuse to open.
According to Nick Ruello, the mussel expert and fisheries biologist, this advice stuck as tightly as a barnacle.
By the 1970s, some 13 per cent of cookery books were agreeing with Jane Grigson; and by the 1980s, this had risen to 31 per cent.
By the 1990s, there was almost universal agreement among the cookbook writers — none of whom were fisheries biologists.
Indeed, Nick Ruello personally contacted two prominent Australian cookbook writers and asked them why they wrote this. Their replies were that the information:
came from their young research assistants who did much of the work in preparing the latest book.
It was as though once the advice had been written down, it kept on spreading because other writers quoted it, without checking if it was correct or not.
And it was not.*
Bonefish Grill has an awesome mussel dish. It tastes like they add a few star anise to the broth. Delicious!
I’d be really careful with parmesan cheese, and probably avoid it altogether with a white seafood sauce. The cheese can really stomp all over the delicate flavor of the shellfish. I mean, it will still be edible, even tasty, but it’s a waste of expensive shellfish, if you’re covering up the flavor that much.
The beauty of mussels is that they’re dirt cheap, so in this case they’re adding to the parm. Admittedly I’d be content with the block of parm on its own but that’s just me.
Thanks Chefguy, I know what I’m having for dinner soon.