Mussels in Garlic Butter Wine Sauce

....exactly as it says on the title.

I love, LOVE ordering mussels in restaurants..cooked in wine sauce or cream sauce, baked or pretty much any way they serve it in restaurants... I'll eat them all. Unfortunately, they also always come with a pretty "nice" price tag on the menus.

So when I saw fresh mussels going on sale for $2.99 per 2-lb bag at the Asian store, I grabbed them and put them in my cart. Never mind the fact that I *possibly* could not eat all 2lbs of mussels myself(the bf hates mussels so it's all on me). Never mind the fact that I've never cooked mussels before. Never mind the fact that I've never handled mussels before and I could very well give myself *gasp* shellfish poisoning. I WANTED THEM.

If I die eating them, oh well.

When I brought them home, I initially placed them in a bowl of ice which I later learned is a very big NONO. The ice melts and the live mussels will then drown in a pool of fresh water, which essentially suffocates them and kill them. And eating dead mussels is a great way to get sick and die a horrible death. So kids, don't do it.

I had to find this out by doing research online lol. I didn't know that you had to debeard mussels! Here's a very nice informative Youtube video on how to clean, debeard and store mussels:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2Od7_XYye0&feature=related

Once again, be VERY careful to make sure that your mussels are alive when you cook them. I know, it's cruel to cook mussels alive(I did feel a twinge of guilt while doing it) but you REALLY don't want to get sick from these things.

OK, on to my recipe. I decided I wanted to cook my first round in the traditional French way..with wine sauce. I looked up several recipes online and adapted it to what I had in the kitchen. So here it goes:

Ingredients:

• Minced garlic (I love garlic so I had a LOT of these)
• Chopped up green onions(also a huge fan of this)
• A single bay leaf
• Half a jalapeno, diced (I like a kick in my food, add more if you like)
  
• About a cup of white wine ( I used Chardonnay that I had sitting in my fridge forever..a cheap one is good enough)
• 2 tbs butter
• Olive oil
• Chicken bouillion powder
• Dash of paprika
  
• and of course the mussels

1. In a deep pan, cook the olive oil and butter for a few mins. Toss in the minced garlic, jalapeno and bay leaf.
2. Add chicken bouillion powder to taste.
3. Add the wine and let it cook down. Grind in some black pepper.
4. Add the mussels and stir it around for a bit. Close the lid on the pan and let it cook for a little under five minutes. The mussels are cooked when the shells are opened.

Garnish with green onions and they are ready to eat! Happy nomz! I ate mine with some "yar char kuai" (Chinese crullers) to soak up the sauce. How's that for an international taste? :) Or if you like you can serve these with a side of salad of your choice.

After cooking that batch, I still have half of my mussels left. Next plan: Cook mussels Asian style..maybe with tom yum, or ginger scallion stir fry?

Non-dairy Mushroom Soup

Recipe coming up soon...

Food Porn#1: Loco Moco

My lunch for today.

I love me some protein in my meals..for some reason, I've always imagined protein as a flavor of its own instead of a type of nutrient haha. ("Does that dish taste too proteiny for you?") Tofu, red meat, eggs...if it's anything proteiny, I r loves it! Today I woke up with a hankering for some protein flavor, and the first thing that popped into my mind was LOCO MOCO.

Loco Moco is a very common Hawaiian dish. I haven't been to Hawaii yet, but I have had friends who recommended that I try the dish. Apparently the Loco Moco is so common that it can be considered as street food. I tried my first Loco Moco at some local island-themed grill some years ago. It is a very simple dish, something that can be easily made at home and is definitely not worth the 7-8 dollars I shelled out.


The Loco Moco dish consists of a hamburger patty with an egg served sunny side up and over a bed of rice. Brown gravy is then poured over that and et voila! That is a Loco Moco.

In my case, I made a few improvisations to the dish. I did not have hamburger patties, so I substituted with thin sliced beef steaks. I did a quick google search for the Loco Moco sauce(the brown gravy). Some people use the normal brown gravy for mashed potatoes, which I personally think is kinda yukkk. I used a recipe from Wikihow, and added some extra ingredients to it.

My Loco Moco gravy recipe:
The pan drippings from cooking your steak/burger patty
Few dashes of Worschesteshire sauce ( did I spell it right??)
Mixture of water and cornstarch to thicken sauce
Beef stock granules
Sugar
Cilantro
Fresh onions
Garlic
Chili paste

Directions:
After cooking your meat, use the same pan and toss the garlic in for a little bit till the garlic slightly crispy. Add water and beef stock into the pan and you have a nice broth simmering. Add the rest of the ingredients in and let it simmer for a little while. Toss in the cilantro the last as it cooks the fastest. When the sauce has thickened to your liking, it is ready! Omnomnom.