Whisk Wednesdays :: Mouclade

Mussels with Wine and Cream sauce.  Now this, I quite liked.  The cream added the quintessential richness, yet it was dainty – it didn’t smother that saltwater freshness mussels hold so well.  The parsley-thyme combination was perfect, very French.  The method was relatively simple, a few different reductions for the sauce but well worth the resulting concentration of flavor.  Shallots were an ingredient in the sauce’s base – I adore shallots.  So caramelly and sweet.  In fact, I need to cook with them more often, really.

Judging by the recipes on the internet and from the emails our group was passing around, curry powder is commonly used in Mouclade.  Oh, I was so tempted to replace the cream with coconut milk and make a curried version.  But I was good, stayed on track and I’m glad I did.  This sauce was really great.    Since mussels are relatively inexpensive and so easy to prepare I’m definitely making this a go-to recipe that I plan to experiment with – a coconut curry version, maybe even a saffron paella-inspired version…

Unfortunately, my sweet husband is out of town, so he didn’t get to try this Whisk Wednesdays dish.  Yep, I finished it all by myself – it was the easiest thing I did all day.