Cook the Books :: Coconut Curried Mussels

I finally have another installment for the Cook the Books challenge from Briggs at Oh, Briggsy and Meg at Grow and Resist. The challenge is to focus on one cookbook for every month of 2013. I’ve missed posting for the Cook the Books Challenge, not only for the joy of discovering a new dish, but I’ve missed eating new home cooking and the time to sit and savor!

I did my first trade show in May (the National Stationery Show and posts about it are to come!) It was a huge undertaking for one person. Regular life took a back seat for a bit, but now I feel rested and ready for summer.

I chose to make Coconut Curried Mussels with Smoky Chorizo for my dish from Susan Feniger’s, Street Food. Susan is one of my favorite chefs from Top Chef Masters for her humor, class and imagination. When I read the mussels recipe among all the other recipes I bookmarked in her cookbook, it was the front-runner to try first.

I had to make a few alterations to the recipe: the curry paste would have to suffice without the curry leaves or cilantro (my grocer had neither) and double the parsley; the chorizo I found was an organic chicken sausage and worked just fine for flavor.

We luckily have a local fishmonger (do they still call them that?) where I purchased fresh mussels. I don’t cook them often, so I needed to look up how to prep them for cooking. They need 20 minutes in fresh water to “breathe” out the sand and salt in their systems. A few of them also needed to be debearded, which makes a tiny, violent popping noise.

One very important element on the shopping list is the sourdough bread. I got a fantastic loaf of Berkshire Mountain Bakery sourdough bread, available at a local shop.

The cooking time is fast, once all the prep is done of making the curry paste and readying the mussels. The aroma is unbelievable and the color is beautiful.

My husband and I bellied up and ate every single mussel, dipping our toasted sourdough into every last bit of broth. The spice and bite of the paste and wine, the creaminess of the coconut milk, the brightness of the lime and the briny mussels were all perfection. I will make this again and again.

And again.