Coconut Curry Mussels
This weekend was lovely in Boston and my hubby and I took full advantage of the unusually warm weather by taking a long walk around our neighborhood. We live within a 5 minute stroll of many shops and restaurants and one of our favorites is a small family-owned meat market called McKinnon’s. They have every cut of meat imaginable and a nice selection of fresh seafood. We always end up with some sort of impulse purchase when we visit, and this weekend was no exception – I picked up a package of mussels! I had never prepared mussels before, so I was a little intimidated, but decided to go for it anyway. There’s nothing worse than ruining an expensive ingredient, but luckily everything went smoothly after I did a little research on the internet and found this site explaining how to properly clean and debeard them.
Coming up with an idea for the sauce was much easier because I knew I wanted to use coconut milk and curry paste. One of our favorite restaurants in Chicago, Opera, used to serve mussels in an amazing coconut curry sauce and we’ve missed this tasty appetizer ever since we moved to Boston! It was nice to enjoy one of our favorite dishes for a fraction of what it would have cost in a restaurant. Mussels will definitely be on our list the next time we go to McKinnon’s!
Coconut Curry Mussels
Printable Recipe
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 red bell pepper, chopped
4 green onions, chopped
1 14-ounce can light coconut milk
Juice of one lime
1 teaspoon red curry paste
1 stalk lemongrass
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 to 1 1/2 pounds mussels, scrubbed and debearded
Directions:
Heat olive oil over medium heat in a large stockpot and sauté red peppers and greens onions for 5 to 7 minutes or until soft. Add coconut milk, lime juice, red curry paste, lemongrass, ginger, and salt to the pot and bring mixture to a boil. Add mussels and boil until mussels open, about 5 minutes. Discard any mussels that do not open. Place the mussels in two serving bowls and continue to simmer the sauce for 5 to 10 minutes or until it reduces and thickens a bit. Remove lemongrass and pour sauce over mussels. Makes 2 servings.
Nutrition: 287 calories, 21.3g fat, 3.0g fiber, 12.7g protein per serving (assuming you finish all the sauce!)
Cost: $3.00 per serving