About Them Mussels...

I'm usually a purist when it come to my mussels; you know...a little wine (ok, a lot of wine,*wink wink* ) some parsley and shallots, lots of lemon and garlic. The usuj.  Not no more. After eating THEE BEST MUSSELS EV-VER at Salud Bistro in St. Croix, I've been trying to recreate them in my head. Served in a Lemon-Sherry-Cream broth, with Chorizo, they were simple but oh-so delish! 

 

Here's a picture, but oops, we were like pigs at a trough and I forget to take the picture until we had about polished them off. Our good friends, the Nicholsons, were with us and Captain Obvious and Captain Oblivious (as I like to call The Big Guy and his buddy) sucked them down, like they were in a mussel eating contest or something.

The Mussel Winners! Captain Obvious & Captain Oblivious

So I came home determined to somewhat recreate the dish.  Got me four pounds of nice fresh mussels at Whole Foods in Colorado and some good smoked Chorizo.

I decided to stick with white wine because my Sherry was ummm, vinegar. Shit happens, but next time I will definitely bring some some sherry to the party. I then made a lemon-creme broth and poached them until they just dared to open up.  Because I love tomatoes in a creamy broth like that, I diced some up threw in a handful at the last minute.

They were excellent!  I also made some fresh basil fettuccine to go with so we poured some of that heavenly sauce over the pasta and then used some crusty bread to mop up whatever sauce got away.

Next time I make them I will reduce the wine by half and add the sherry --meaning 1 cup of each, if I have good sherry. If it's the cheap stuff I'll probably go with 1 1/2 cups wine and 1/2 cup sherry.  Sometimes a little sherry goes a long way, but most of it is reduced down, so don't be afraid to pour it in. Get ya a great bottle of wine, some good crusty bread and go a little crazy!

Go to the "Seafood" tab for the mussel recipe and to the "Pasta" tab for the basil pasta.