Sunday, July 31, 2011

Mussel Chowder




I love to cook. I am married to a man who loves to eat. It works. He doesn't like it if I change the way I make something. He doesn't know that so often I just make it up as I go along and I can't always remember what I put in the dish or how much of it! I am a firm believer in olive oil/garlic/white wine which can also be changed to butter/shallots/beer and so on.
We often have mussels for dinner. I saute shallots in a mixture of olive oil and butter, add the mussels and a healthy "splash" of white wine. Meanwhile I have cooked pasta and tossed that with pesto. When the mussels have opened I dump them on the pasta and then drizzle some of the broth on top of the dish. I usually serve this dish with grated parm and crusty bread.
However, there are always leftover mussels and broth. We saved it. I had grilled corn (removed from the ear), pancetta, and a small potato. A chowder of sorts was born. I cooked the pancetta and added the diced potato and some of the leftover broth.

When the potatoes were tender, I added the corn (about a cup), and about a cup of cooked pasta. I also added fresh thyme. Some dry sherry perked it up a bit. Just before serving, I added some heavy cream and the mussels.

Some crusty bread for dipping. Yum.

Hope you have a wonderful day.

8 comments:

Vee said...

With all that delicious cooking, I can't imagine that he'd have any complaints. It looks wonderful...splashes of wine, splashes of cream...fresh food...what's not to love?

Hope that your days on the lake have been glorious. What a great week of weather.

Tanya Breese said...

oh my, that all looks scrumptious!

From Beyond My Kitchen Window said...

Oh wow, what a clever thing to do with the mussel leftovers. I would be dipping that delicious bread into that chowda at a frantic pace.

Kitten With a Whiplash said...

It's been ages since I've had mussels. It looks and sounds wonderful, as does the mussels and pesto pasta.

Candace said...

My drive to the seacoast to watch the sun come up was made entirely too early for me to get a bowl of my beloved chowdah. Now I come home and see this delicious post. Mmmmmmmm! I've got to try to find some chowdah. Tonight! :)

Unknown said...

What a delicious meal. I love mussels too. There used to be a cute little Italian restaurant in Hoboken New Jersey that had the best mussels in green sauce. Oh, now I must go have breakfast, because you have surely made my mouth water.

Karen

Maggie said...

Hi Carol,
You are a cook after my own heart, these dishes are typical of the way we like to prepare food, too.
Have a great week my dear, lovin' that new header!
Maggie

Rettabug said...

Oh, Carol...the grandkidlets look so cute, wrapped up in their custom made quilts you did for them! I know they were thrilled & will remember how much love was stitched into each seam.

I can't believe you're talking about heading back down to FL. Seems like you just got to MA!!
I saw a post about a quilt store up there & was going to send you the link & now I've lost it. Just as well...you probably don't need any more fabric, huh? LOL

Your mussel recipes sound yummy! We ADORE the ones that Carrabbas serves & I have duplicated their recipe to almost perfect. They use a titch of Pernod to zing it up. Yummo!
Lets plan on meeting at Carrabbas with Donna next winter & we'll share a BIG bowl. (Hopefully, she likes shell fish!)

Hugs,
Rett

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