Mouclade - French steamed mussels in a curry cream sauce
A dish that needs to be shared and enjoyed among friends
Published originally on my blog on 3 March 2012
Lately I've been feeling out of touch and disconnected; from my surroundings, the people around me, from my own self. Do you ever feel that way? When all you can think about are the problems, the minutiae of every day life, when you end up worrying too much or too little about things that are senseless or of grave importance that you end up cutting yourself off from all the things you hold dear? When your life seems like it's just passing you by?
On the beginning of February was the one year anniversary of my dad's sudden death. It was a difficult month, in all respects, still I didn't share any of it with you. I wanted to keep it light over here, I didn't want to let you in on my rather gloomy world as of late.
Perhaps winter is to blame. The days are still dark, even if March is here, just barely, the skies have that all too familiar shade of grey, the fog is surrounding every building, tree and obstructs my view of the world it seems, and the sun only peeks through the clouds for mere moments; not enough to lift my spirits.
Bad things happen, I know, not just death, but illness, depression, fights among people who love each other deeply, mood swings, lack of money, of space, of time, of will to create. The antipode of all that is life, breathing clean air, laughter, cuddling with ones love, sharing food. Yes, sharing food always comes into play when I'm thinking about what really matters in life.
Food, sharing it, enjoying it with the ones you love or offering it to those who need it more than you do. Celebration, bereavement, a dinner table set with plain dinnerware and extraordinary food, a picnic, a lunch with friends.
I don't care if all this makes sense or not. It's raw, it's me. It's my space, it's my voice, it's my food. Please, join me.
I have been doing a lot of cooking lately. Not sharing it here but with the people I love; my S. and my brother who was staying with us for a while. I was not sharing it with you but the time has come.
Perhaps I will be posting more these following weeks, perhaps not. We'll see. Perhaps with less words and more photos and actual food, perhaps without food at all and just me, talking, writing, we'll see. What I do know, is that I need to make a change here. I need change. Only that can move me forward.
We'll see.
The recipe...
The Mouclade is a classic French dish of steamed mussels in a curry cream sauce. It is a dish that needs to be shared and enjoyed among friends.
A large plate of mussels is put in the middle of the table, the creamy sauce is poured generously over the top and the parsley is scattered around. Hands start digging in, taking the mussels one by one, with the rich golden sauce dripping all over the tablecloth. The bread is crunchy and crumbs fall on the floor and the wine is abundant and no one stops until there's only a speck of sauce left in the plate, and the last person holding the last piece of bread dares not let it go to waste so they stand up, put their hand inside the large dish and bring that last, glorious bite to their mouth.
Mouclade - French Steamed Mussels in a Curry Cream Sauce
This is a creamy, rich, indulgent mussel dish. The curry adds an exotic accent to it and makes it ideal for cold winter nights, or crisp spring evenings that are yet to come.
The crème fraîche and egg yolks add creaminess and thicken the sauce, as does also the beurre manié. Beurre manié means 'kneaded butter' in French and it is a hand-kneaded paste of softened butter and flour (in equal parts) that is whisked into sauces, soups or stews and that works as a thickening agent. It is extremely easy to make, as you will see in the recipe below.
