Spicy Thai Curry Mussels

 I usually go grocery shopping on Friday's after work because the store isn't super busy and I can usually get in and out pretty easily. Plus, I have a bit of OCD that makes me want to come home to a cleaned house (thank you cousin) with arms full of groceries to put away because then I know my "chores" for the weekend are complete.

Not like that ever actually happens though. I come home and find a load of clothes to do, or I empty out the litter boxes or I randomly decide to reorganize something that most likely does not need reorganizing, but I do it anyway and then wonder where my weekend went.

A couple of weeks ago we had plans on Friday night and I had to go grocery shopping in the morning. My OCD also prefers to go first thing in the morning when there aren't nearly as many people there, because if you've ever been in a Wegman's on a Saturday late morning, you know it can be complete chaos. For whatever reason, Tom wasn't able to go with me and I didn't get to the store until 10 am. I won't lie, I was scared walking in, but I found it not as scary as it was the previous time I was there on a Saturday morning.

The one cool thing about shopping on a Saturday morning as opposed to a Friday night, is that they have all the sample people out. Having a short list and no other plans for the day, I took my time wandering around the store and was encouraged to try grouper by the seafood counter employee. I've had grouper before, it's something my aunt and uncle eat pretty frequently, but I've never been able to make it taste right myself. I explained this and the employee told me he completely understood, but if I liked mussels he had a recipe that was fool-proof.

I do like mussels, which I still find amusing since I was never a very adventurous eater. He had me try a Thai curry mussel. It was really full of flavor and not at all what I expected from a Thai curry sauce. Two pounds of mussels are only $6 at Wegman's, which is much cheaper than all their other seafood and they were even providing a printed copy o the recipe for you. I couldn't pass it up.

Spicy Thai Curry Mussels
Source: Wegman's
Servings: 4
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Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 ½ cups onion, chopped
• 1 cup leek, chopped
• 1 cup celery, chopped
• 1 garlic clove, chopped
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 lbs. mussels 
• 8 oz. Spicy Thai Curry Sauce 
• 1 loaf Italian bread, toasted and broken into large pieces 

Directions:
1. In a Dutch Oven or other braising pan, heat the olive oil over medium high heat.
2. Add the onion, leeks and celery and cook for 10 minutes or until softened. Add the garlic and bay leaves and cook for 1-2 minutes more.
3. Add the mussels and Thai sauce to the pan and increase the heat to medium-high. Cover and cook for 3-5 minutes or until the sauce is simmering and the mussels have opened.
4. Remove any mussels that did not open. Ladle mussels and sauce into bowls and serve with crusty bread.

I had more mussels than expected not open, but we still really enjoyed this dish. I plan on making it again but picking up the mussels the day of, just in case having them in the fridge on ice for a day had something to do with the fact that they didn't all open.

If you aren't a fan of curry sauce, I still highly recommend that you try this recipe. I am not a fan of curry either, but this tasted nothing like it.