Monday, April 6, 2009

No Marinara for These Mussels

The first time I had mussels, it was in a white wine sauce. It was so many years ago, I can't even remember which city it was - all I remember is the red brick interior and the chalkboards on the walls with the daily specials.

Today is a hectic day. I am expecting visitors soon and need to clean the apartment, my cell phone died on the weekend and needed to be replaced, plus work is demanding more & more of my time. So, when I passed by the fishmonger & saw mussels in the window, I knew that I could grab a loaf of bread on the way home & have a quick dinner.

At first, I thought of the classic Mussels in White Wine Sauce. However, I just had the most amazing Venus Clams in White Wine that I didn't want to tarnish the memory with lesser shellfish (I prefer clams to mussels any day). I made this instead:

Mussels in Spicy Coconut Milk
1.5 Kg Mussels, cleaned
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
2 Tbsp minced garlic
3 stalks lemongrass, chopped
1 red chili, chopped
2 Tbsp ginger, minced
3 Kefir lime leaves
1 tsp sesame oil
300 ml coconut milk
3 Tbsp lime juice

Heat oil. Sautee garlic, ginger, lemongrass, chili & kefir lime leaves. When softened, add mussels. Cover, allow to steam open, stirring occasionally. When all mussels are open, add coconut milk, sesame oil and lime juice. Serve with Basmati or Jasmine rice.

Slightly spicy, largely tasty; broth is perfect for a soup.

4 comments:

Cathy said...

I love all seafood - clams, mussels, scallops - you name it I'm up for it. Those mussels look great though - I could just imagine sopping up the coconut broth with a nice loaf of crusty bread!

Hope life becomes a little less hectic for you!

taste traveller said...

They were fantastic with bread, although, had I had the time, I would have made an aromatic Basmati rice. Next time, maybe. I just read this article on mussels: who knew that they could also be enviromentally friendly?

Life will calm down a bit. After all the visitors are gone. So around Sunday, the 19th... ;-)

Joie de vivre said...

Taste traveler, thanks so much for following my blog! Mussels are one of my favorite dishes. I've wanted to try them with coconut milk but have yet to try it. I'm excited to see what you'll do with your blog. I see it's still a baby blog! Have fun with it!

Murasaki Shikibu said...

Ronny makes something like this too with coconut milk & cilantro. Mussels really do make a lovely broth don't they? :)

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