To prepare your mise en place, first mince the shallots. Then cut off the white and light green part of the leeks. Cut down the middle and rinse to remove any grit. Thinly slice. Next, roughly chop the cilantro and set aside.
To prepare the mussels, scrub them clean and remove any beards. Place into a bowl and cover with a damp cloth. Store the mussels in the refrigerator while you make the sauce.
To start the sauce, preheat a wide, large pan over low heat. Add the butter, followed by the shallots and leeks. Let this cook for about a minute and then add the curry powder and stir. Add the white wine, turn the heat to medium and let reduce until there is almost no liquid left. Next, add the cream and the mango chutney.
Turn up the heat to medium high, stir and let reduce until the sauce thickens. Next, season to taste, keeping in mind that the mussels can be salty themselves.
Once the sauce has reduced and thickened, add the mussels and stir to coat them with the sauce. Then immediately cover with a lid and turn the heat down to medium. Let cook for about 6 to 8 minutes or until the mussels open. Sprinkle with the cilantro and serve immediately.
Mussels only need to be steamed in a tiny amount of liquid. When they open during cooking, they release their own liquid which adds a lot of liquid to the base sauce. If there is too much liquid in the sauce before adding the mussels, the liquid from the mussels will dilute the sauce. Take care when seasoning the sauce. The liquid from the mussels tends to be quite salty and will season the sauce on its own.
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Great way to serve mussels, even good for those people who don't love them. Nice mellow flavor with the curry and mango chutney.
Would this sauce work on other fish or chicken?
Thanks to the previous comments I used boneless chicken thighs to make this dish. I wanted to use up some light cream and it worked well instead of the whipping cream because I did not have the added liquid from the mussels. I browned both sides of the thighs, removed them to make the sauce and then added them again to heat through. My husband saved the left over sauce on his plate as he said it was too good to waste. I will make this again for sure.
Glad you liked this Liz. One thing I wanted to note is that you can't reduce light cream the same way you can heavy (whipping) cream. I wish you could but it simply doesn't work. You could add a roux to add some thickening to the light cream (e.g. make kind of a bechamel out of it).
I'm sure it still tasted great because these are still great ingredients but wanted to make the note so that other users don't try to reduce light cream. Cheers.
Good point:) I found I didn't need a roux or thickener because I used only 3/4cup light cream and it did reduce a little so for the chicken it ended up to be a quite good consistency. I'm sure whipping cream would have been even better. For sure use whipping cream if making it with mussels. My husband added the leftover sauce ( there wasn't much) to his egg sandwich today and declared it delicious:)
Had a dinner party and used this dish as a starter.
Everyone loved it.
Very quick to make as well.
One reason why I love this site is it made me use veggies or ingredients that I've never use before,first time I tried Leek on a dish. I tried this curried mussell(from whole food fresh for ten dollars a pounds). I made it for my boyfriend not sure if he likes it but he ate it (funny its eatable or he didnt spit it out that I would consider a knod meaning okay). I personally would make it again just because I dont wanna cook french fries for dinner for him I just wanna try new things that lean on the healthy side.
the second time I tried cooking it though It was salty because I bought a frozen mussell. It was awful let the be a lesson learn USE ONLY FRESH mussell
I'm going to cook these away from home (Palm Desert condo) and it seems silly to buy a whole jar of chutney just for this one recipe that calls for such a small amount. Can I sub it for anything else? What if I leave it out altogether? Also, in the video it looks like the curry powder added totals more than the 1 teas in the recipe. Maybe just my eyes, but can you clarify? Thanks, love the recipe!
You can omit the chutney from the recipe. It will just lack a tiny bit of sweetness and of course the flavor from the missing chutney. The curry powder was a teaspoon, but you can add whatever amount suits your tastes - just taste the sauce as it is thickening to see if you want more. Happy cooking!
Here is another thread that talk about this same thing.
http://rouxbe.com/community/forums/8/topics/607
Cheers!
I made this recipe for dinner tonight and it turned out to be delicious. I made it exactly as stated, and served it with some homemade crostini on the side. At the end of the meal both my husband and I felt very full; we should have eaten less, but didn't want to waste the very expensive mussels that I bought -and such a delicious meal! Do you know if these mussels would make good leftovers for the next day? I am assuming one needs to store them removed from the shells. Would they become rubbery if re-heated? Any re-heating advice? Next time I will probably try to cut the ingredients by 1/4 or 1/2 and serve with a salad on the side. Thanks.
Glad you enjoyed the mussels. As for leftovers, it's not ideal, but if you need to keep them overnight, remove them from the shell, along with any sauce that is stuck to the shell. Warm them over medium heat, probably with a touch of water to thin down the sauce a bit, and cook until heated through and they JUST begin to simmer. You can run the risk of them becoming chewy if you reheat too much. If you found them a bit too rich, it is easy to cut down the recipe for next time. Hope this helps! Cheers!
I have made this a number of times - with greater success each time. I have never used the chutney or cilantro - just a personal taste thing. I don't really like leeks so I subbed in chopped yellow onion on the 2nd try and loved it. On each subsequent attempt I increased the curry powder and was very pleased. On the 2nd to last try I reduced the cream on a higher heat for a longer time which caused the cream (or butter??) to separate into a glunky looking mess! I added the mussels anyway and much to my surprise the sauce came together wonderfully and it was my best attempt by far.. I intentionally let the cream separate again on the last try. I served it to a bunch of old-school east coasters who all said: "These are the best mussels I have ever had!"
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