Coconut Curry Mussels Recipe

We know: We’ve been dragging out the recipes from our January book writing retreat for a long time now. You’ll be glad to know that this is the last of the lot, our last supper of the trip itself and of those featured on the blog. But the mussels were a wonderful way to end the week. So special even, that we’ve waited until now to share them with you. Though they’re available year-round, making them now, in April, will make them seem like they’re heralding spring in. We spent very little money at the grocery store that week. Probably because most of what we ate involved spaghetti. But by the last afternoon we were down to our last few shallots, and we had a can of coconut milk still waiting to be used up. We also had half a loaf of No-Knead Bread waiting to be drenched in delicious sauces or slathered with scallion butter.  That last day, we decided to put the book-related brainstorming on hold and take a load off our minds by giving our legs some exercise. Perhaps it was the ocean air, but by the end of our jaunt, both of us were craving seafood, and we were both thinking the same thing: mussels. Mussels are super cheap, and for but five dollars we added two pounds of them to our dinner table. I got to work chopping the remainder of our garlic, ginger, and shallots, and Cara threw together an Asian-inspired vinaigrette for our salad before taking the aromatics off my hands to sauté. The dish came together in minutes and, save for some slightly stale curry powder, the mussels turned out perfectly creamy, spicy, and satisfying enough to celebrate our last night out of the city. — Phoebe