Thai Mussels

If you love mussels like I do, you need to try this recipe now!  I love making mussels mariniere, but this time I wanted to find a recipe with a more unique flavor.  I found a recipe for thai mussels on allrecipes so I decided to give it a shot.  I had never cooked with thai red curry paste before so I was crossing my fingers that we would actually like the flavor of this....and we loved it!  Next time I buy mussels, I'm going to use this recipe again because I've been craving it for awhile.

When Kevin and I have mussels for a main course, I usually try to buy about 2 pounds of mussels....but since my grocery store still wasn't selling mussels, I had 2 options:  1 - Buy 2 pounds of mussels from Whole Foods for about $12....or 2 - Buy a 5 pound bag of mussels from Costco for around $10.  Well, I decided to go with the Costco option so we had way more mussels than we could eat, but we certainly ate as much as we could!  The recipe calls for 5 pounds, but you can definitely cut it down.  I would probably just cut the mussels down and keep the broth the same so that you have a ton of dipping sauce to soak up with some bread.

Ingredients:

5 pounds fresh mussels, scrubbed and debearded (rinse the mussels to clean, but don't soak in water or they might die before you cook them....I learned this the hard way awhile ago)
1/3 cup fresh lime juice (use real limes - much better than bottled juice!)
1 (13.5 ounce) can unsweetened coconut milk
1/3 cup dry white wine (I use savignon blanc, but use what you have on hand)
1 1/2 tablespoons Thai red curry paste (I probably used about 2 tablespoons)
1 1/2 tablespoons minced garlic
1 tablespoon Asian fish sauce
1 tablespoon white sugar
2 cups chopped fresh cilantro (1 used 1 small bunch....about a cup or a cup and a half)
loaf of crusty bread for dipping :)

Directions:

1. In a large stock pot, combine the lime juice, coconut milk, wine, curry paste, garlic, fish sauce and sugar. Stir to dissolve sugar and curry paste and bring to a boil over high heat. Boil for 2 minutes then add mussels. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until mussels are opened, 5 to 8 minutes.

2. Remove from the heat and discard any unopened mussels. Pour mussels and liquid into a serving dish and toss with cilantro.

Source:  Allrecipes