My husband brought home a big box of live mussels on Thursday and I started planning the best way to cook them up this weekend. When I went to open them I noticed that their expiry date was the same day that Gen had bought them, two days before. Well, in an ignorant and hopeful moment, I opened the container and tested the mussels for liveliness. Unsuccessful. Time of confirmed death, 5:00pm. Gen immediately called Costco about the possibility of an exchange for mussels that haven’t already expired and they agreed! Problem: they close at 6:00pm. So, my wonderful husband who was desperate for some mussely goodness hustled his butt down to Costco, they took in our dead mussels and gave us a brand new batch and I went to work preparing them three ways! This was a delicious treat for us and we happily have some leftovers to munch on today (pluck the leftover mussels out of their shells, seal in a tupperware and eat cold, or just warmed the next day. They can get quite hard if you heat them too much the next day). The Butter & Garlic batch has a little kick from some apple cider vinegar, Gen went WILD for these, possibly because they were the first batch. He slurped back the sauce from his bowl, my bowl, and the pot. The Curry & Kale mussels are simple and tasty. The kale soaks up the curry flavours wonderfully. The Spicy Coconut version was the big winner. Coconut milk enhances the sweetness of the mussels while the chili flakes and chilis add a kick to balance it out. Winner, winner, mussel dinner. 

I’ve put the recipes and a special mussel eating tip behind the jump so that my front page is manageable to scroll!

Butter & Garlic

INGREDIENTS

• 2 pounds of fresh (live) mussels
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 tbsp garlic, minced
• 1 red chili, minced (optional)
• pinch of salt and pepper
• 1 green onion, sliced
• 1 tsp lime juice
• 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

DIRECTIONS

1. Rinse and scrub mussels, debeard if needed (check out The Kitchn’s tutorial).
2. In a large pan with a lid, melt butter over medium heat.
3. Add garlic, chili (if using), salt and pepper. Sauté until the garlic just browns and becomes fragrant, 3 minutes.
4. Add the mussels to the pan (place them gently so as not to break the shells). Stir gently to coat the mussels with the butter mixture.
5. Sprinkle with the green onion, lime juice, and apple cider vinegar.
6. Cover and steam over medium-high heat for 5 minutes. The mussels should be open, discard any that haven’t open.
7. Serve mussels in a bowl, pour the cooking liquid over the mussels. The liquid/sauce is delicious!

Butter, garlic, chili, onion (I added it early here, I recommend adding the onion right before steaming).

Steaming away!

Curry & Kale

INGREDIENTS

• 2 pounds fresh (live) mussels
• 1 bunch of kale, washed and roughly chopped
• 2 tbsp coconut oil or butter
• 1 tbsp garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup curry powder
• 1 tbsp cumin
• pinch of salt and pepper
• 1/4 cup water (or chicken stock)
• 2 tsp lime juice

DIRECTIONS

1. Rinse and scrub mussels, debeard if needed (check out The Kitchn’s tutorial).
2. In a large pan with a lid, melt coconut oil over medium heat.
3. Add the kale and stir well to coat in oil.
4. Add garlic, curry powder, cumin, salt and pepper. Sauté until the kale begins to wilt and the spices become fragrant, 5 minutes.
5. Add the mussels to the pan (place them gently so as not to break the shells). Stir gently to coat the mussels with the spice mixture.
6. Sprinkle with the water and lime juice.
7. Cover and steam over medium-high heat for 5 minutes. The mussels should be open, discard any that haven’t open.
8. Serve mussels in a bowl, making sure to include some kale and pour the cooking liquid over the mussels.

Sautéing up the kale.

Curry! I neglected to take a final picture of the mussels, but they were delicious!

Spicy Coconut

INGREDIENTS

• 2 pounds fresh (live) mussels
• 2 tbsp coconut oil
• 1 tsp garlic, minced
• 2 tsp fresh ginger, minced
• pinch of salt and pepper
• 1 hot chili (I used a red), minced or thinly sliced
• 1 tsp crushed red chili flakes (optional)
• 1 can coconut milk
• 1 green onion, sliced
• 1 tsp lime juice

DIRECTIONS

1. Rinse and scrub mussels, debeard if needed (check out The Kitchn’s tutorial).
2. In a large pan with a lid, melt coconut oil over medium heat.
3. Add garlic, ginger, salt and pepper, minced chili, and crushed red chili flakes. Sauté until the garlic just browns and becomes fragrant, 3 minutes.
4. Pour the coconut milk into the pan and stir well to combine. Cook over medium heat for 5-8 minutes to infuse the coconut milk with spicy heat.
5. Add the mussels to the pan (place them gently so as not to break the shells). Stir gently to coat the mussels with the coconut mixture.
6. Sprinkle with green onion and lime juice.
7. Cover and steam over medium-high heat for 5 minutes. The mussels should be open, discard any that haven’t open.
8. Serve mussels in a bowl, pour the cooking liquid over the mussels. The liquid/sauce is delicious!

Well hello delicious mussels, thanks for opening up!

Coconut milk infused with mussels, chili, and a bit of lime. Best finish ever!

Mussel Eating Tip of the Day!

One of my wonderful family friends, Evi, demonstrated the most brilliant method for eating mussels when she came for dinner with my parents and I in the winter (I believe). Now, this technique might be well known already, but it was news to me and revolutionized my mussel eating forever. The tip is simple, eat the first mussel with a fork, your fingers, whatever. Use the empty shell as a pincher to easily grab all remaining mussels from their shells. Seriously. Awesome. See reference picture below:

Oh, so elegant a solution! Thanks Evi!