Day twenty-six: Made Thai curry mussels and practically ate the entire batch myself
Posted on | July 30, 2009
Yes! Last day of fish cookery (well, yesterday was the last official day because today was supposed to be a surprise day but, surprise!, the surprise was one more day of, you guessed it, fish cookery) and I got to make the last seafood I most wanted to make but had not had an opportunity: Mussels.
See, while we get tons of recipes, if you are in a group of three or four or five and every student is making one recipe, then you only get to make one-third or one-quarter, or even one fifth of all the recipes. So you miss out on a lot. And, until now, I had missed out on mussels.
Which was a rel shame because I especially wanted to learn how to cook three things: Mussels, clams, and squid. The first dish I made was steamer clams in white wine and butter. Very nice. The second was the fried calamari. Also, delicious. And I thought I would miss out on mussels.
Then the heavens smiled on me.
And they were so good I all but elbowed my fellow students out of the way.
The recipe is below.
“Ask not what you can do for your country; ask what’s for lunch.”
~ Orson Welles
Yeah, day started with the usual fish lecture then segued into our team project (the live fire lunch). Mama still has no clue how to portion out her recipes, so Mr. Big and I and converted all her food for her.
(Interesting side note: Really paying attention to how the other students work has been such an eye opener for me. I struggle with the culinary math but, eventually, I get it. But other students, such as Mama, don’t make it that far. I struggle, too, with knife skills. And, again, I’m not the worst of the bunch, with some students doing horrendous cuts and other students slow as anything. And, too, some of the students were talking about the work they did and the grades they got again, and I realized that my first term grade, the “A,” was better than most. Interesting.)
Then we talked about how to deal with our food.
One dish has to be cooked to order on the grill, another on the griddle, and the third in a fry pan. Then there are dishes which are being held, warm, for service, salads, and sides.
So I proposed three stations: Hot, which is grill and griddle; warm, which is fry and the warm foods; and cold which is salads and getting food out the door.
The cold station would be the easiest, with the big focus on keeping things organized. The warm station is the fussiest, with the highest number of dishes. And the grill station is the most intimidating.
We gave Mr. Big the grill station because he is best at grilling. Mama took cold because it is easiest. And I took warm.
Fine. We all agreed on it. Then Mr. Big said he didn’t like the way it was organized, after all.
“Okay, so how do you want to do it?”
“I think we should do it different.”
“Okay. So how do we do it differently?”
“I dunno. But the way it is is no good.”
“Well, if you want it better, then you have to tell us what you want better.”
“I dunno. I just think it should be different.”
“Okay. Listen, I don’t mind changing what we do. But if you can’t suggest a better way, then just saying you want a better way isn’t enough.”
“I think we all should sit down and come up with something better.”
“We’ve been talking about this for half an hour. And now you want something different.That’s fine. But what I came up with is the best I can come up with. So if you have a counter suggestion, I’m happy to hear it. But just saying you want something else without telling us what that something else is isn’t getting us anywhere, you know?”
And so on.
Mr. Big never did articulate what he wanted to change or offer a suggestion on how to change it, so, for now, the plan I came up with is the plan we are using.
This is why working in a team drives me nuts.
“Nobody goes to that restaurant anymore. It’s too crowded.”
~ Yogi Berra
Kitchen time, kitchen time! We were supposed to get a black box but, instead, we got recipes from three different countries and the ingredients to go with them.
My team got recipes from Thailand. I instantly grabbed the mussels in red curry (Very rudely, too, because I was so excited I forgot to confer with my teammates. Instead, I just said, “I’ll do the mussels” and trotted off to get my curry and coconut milk.).
The mussels were silly easy. And super delicious. And a nice change from the usual white wine / butter / lemon juice boogie (which I had already done, anyway, with steamer clams a few days ago) you get with mussels.
Here’s the recipe for them: First, take the beards off the mussels. This batch was stubborn and I would have been a lot happier if I had had some fish tweezers but, alas, I do not (if anyone know who makes these or where I can get them, please let me know).
Next, wash the heck out of your mussels. I found it took a good five rinses before the water ran clean.
Discard any mussels that are open (you can tap them to see if they close, and do give them a minute or two to do so), then place them in your fridge or on ice.
Next, open a can of coconut milk and scoop the cream (the thick part) into your hot pan. Add a good tablespoon or more of curry paste and stir. Smell good? Then it is time to add the milk from the can (the watery part) and a teaspoon or more of fish sauce, an equal amount of palm sugar, and two lime leaves. Simmer.
Add 1/4 cup each minced onions and peppers. Add a quart of mussels. Cover for a few minutes, until your mussels have opened (any that don’t open go in the trash).
Take out the lime leaves and discard. Take out your mussels and put them into a serving bowl. If your liquid is too runny (and mine was), then turn the heat up under your sauce and let it reduce for a few minutes. Once it is the consistency you like, pour it over your mussels.
Toss and serve. And be prepared to elbow any hungry people out of the way.
Comments
8 Responses to “Day twenty-six: Made Thai curry mussels and practically ate the entire batch myself”
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July 30th, 2009 @ 7:54 am
Mmm, sounds wonderful! And I agree that there is nothing like culinary classes to really show how differently everyones minds work. I found it just incredibly frustrating doing the culinary math class, to the point where I had to ignore what the instructor said and just read the book before class, since he explained it so many times it stopped making sense!
Mr big needs a smack on the nose, he sounds like he’s trying to assert himself for no good reason.
July 30th, 2009 @ 11:25 am
You make mussels sound so easy! Infused with curry, I feel my intimidation slipping….
July 31st, 2009 @ 6:34 am
Oh I love Thai curries, herb-based heat with some floral finishes. I’m eating my breakfast sandwich and thinking about what curried mussels must taste like. It’s affecting my enjoying my sandwich
There’s always a Mr. Big in every group, the lone dissenter who just doesn’t like whatever collaborative decision has been rendered.
Another fine post! Cheers
July 31st, 2009 @ 7:22 am
Instead of trying to find tweezers, how about just picking up some small pliers at the hardware store? I have a spring-loaded one with a grip handle & cross-hatching in the jaw. As long as the hubby doesn’t take it down to the shop, it’s a very versatile addition to the kitchen.
Ahhhh – mussels….
July 31st, 2009 @ 8:26 am
Drool… I was going to be making mussels tonight anyway and reading through your recipe drove me crazy with hunger. It’s the kind of recipe that I just taste when I read it, and it tastes good. Thanks!
July 31st, 2009 @ 8:59 am
We use needle nose pliers to pull the bones out of whitefish filets. They work fantastic!
August 6th, 2009 @ 4:12 pm
This recipe sounds delicious! I want some of your mussels now, please
August 15th, 2009 @ 8:09 pm
Red curry anything is one of my favorite dishes. This sounds wonderful.
Mr. Big could be one of my software end users: “It doesn’t look right.” Me: “Is the data wrong, or is there a problem with the form?” “Well, it just doesn’t look right.” Argh, indeed.