Curried Mussels

Nothing beats a big pot of mussels for dinner. One of my favorite restaurants in NYC is Markt, they have excellent mussels and an excellent beer selection. I think at one point we were almost going there once a week, and we have also managed to get my family hooked. Probably because the mussels remind us of one of our favorite restaurants when my parents lived in Paris (can't think of the name). I usually order the mussels with curry and cream at Markt, which is why I made these curried mussels for dinner. They turned out great, and there's nothing like sopping up the sauce in the bottom of the pot with slices of crusty french bread. Keep reading for the recipe, which was adapted from Dorie Greenspan's Around My French Table cookbook.


Ingredients
1/2 Tablespoon unsalted butter
1 medium onion, sliced
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 teaspoons curry powder
2 pinches of red pepper flakes
salt and ground pepper
2/3 cup dry white wine
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 parsley sprig
1 bay leaf
2 pounds mussels, scrubbed and debearded
1/2 cup heavy cream
French Bread, sliced for dipping in the creamy sauce

How To Clean Mussels
Discard any open mussels, they're dead. Just before cooking soak mussels in cold water for about 15-20 minutes, this will help release some of the salt and sand that is in the mussels. Mussels often have beards, to remove these yank the beard toward the hinge of the mussel. If you tear it away from the hinge, you can kill the mussel. Remove the beards, and use a brush to brush off sand or anything else that decided to attach itself in the ocean, and place mussels into another bowl of cold water (the first bowl is all sandy and salty by now) until they are cooked.

Directions
Melt butter on stove in a large Dutch oven, over medium-low heat. Add sliced onions and garlic, stirring to coat onions with butter. Cook for about 3-5 minutes. Add curry powder, red pepper flakes, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and cook for about 3-5 more minutes, stirring occasionally. Increase the heat to medium and add wine, thyme, parsley, and bay leaf, cook for 3 more minutes.

Add the mussels to the pot, and stir around in the liquid, coating the mussels. Increase the heat to high and cover with lid. Cook for about 4 minutes, stirring once. Take a peak and see if the mussels have opened, if there are still some to open remove the pot from heat (keeping lid on) and let sit for 1-2 more minutes.

Remove the mussels from the broth and place in a bowl, cover the bowl to keep mussels warm. Bring the sauce back to a boil and cook for 2-3 minutes. Pour in the heavy cream, add a little more pepper and cook on high heat for another 3 minutes. Return the mussels to the pot, stirring around to coat them in the wonderful creamy sauce and then serve. Enjoy the mussels and don't forget to use french bread to sop up the sauce.