Muscles On Mussels

Mom has been here for almost 6 months. It was early March that we picked her up from the airport with 2 huge luggage full of baby's stuff and Chinese herbs for the postpartum recovery. That was just like yesterday! And now little Sebastian is already 5 months old! I am so thankful that she's been here to help me out taking care of the little one and me. In the Chinese culture, the first month after delivery is very crucial to the recovery of the new mommy's health and body shape. It is said that if not taken care of properly, the body will develop a series of chronical pains like back pain, hemicrania, and other gynecological diseases. And of course the other thing that every woman cares so much about, the body shape. I gained about 25lbs throughout the whole pregnancy. Thank to the herbs mom brought from China and the special 1 month diet she cooked for me, I dropped all those weight within 3 months and can't be happier to fit in the clothes before pregnancy. I'm thinking maybe I should write down the recipe and the diet plan so that if any new moms are looking for a method of losing weight and staying healthy they can try this out.

Mom spent so much time in the kitchen taking care of our meals and got up so early to take care of Sebastian so that I could get a couple of hours of sleep. I can not be more grateful to her! We wanted to do something for her to let her know our appreciation so yesterday we had Chris' family over and made a nice dinner for her. We made Thai red curry mussels for appetizer (mom loved the red curry sauce! She actually had it like a soup! Maybe next time I should just serve it with steamed rice...lol!). This is a very simple dish and only takes probably 15 minutes to cook. However, it's a tedious job to clean the mussels, especially when you are serving a lot of people. I bought 2 bags (about 5lbs of mussels) and it took me almost 1 hour to just scrape the beard and scrub them one by one! Definitely need a steel sponge!! The entree was grilled salmon fillet with Umami relish. I've never heard or made Umami relish. It sounded like a Japanese flavor to me when I first saw it in the Food & Wine magazine. It can't go wrong with that I thought... The recipe called for anchovies which, from my past experience, add great flavor to a dish if combined with the right ingredients and used with the right amount. And in this dish, it definitely worked. Combined with grated Parmesan cheese, tomato paste and some soy sauce and olive oil, it brought such a complex flavor to the fish yet not overpowering the dish. Chris also grilled the salmon to the perfection that it's flaky and moist. For the side, we just threw a simple garden salad and a loaf of garlic bread. The weather was great even though a little bit warm (I wouldn't complain at all since it was the last day of summer and the sun was shining all the time!). We ate at the picnic table outside with Sebastian playing by himself in the play yard beside. Mom enjoyed it, everyone enjoyed it. What a wonderful day!

 

THAI RED CURRY MUSSELS

- 5 lbs mussels

- 1 medium yellow onion, thinly sliced

- 1 medium size tomato, finely diced

- 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped

- 3 tbsp vegetable oil

- 2 heap tbsp Thai red curry paste

- 2 lime, juice

- 1000 ml unsweetened coconut milk

- 1 tsp granulated sugar

- a small handful of coriander, chopped

Steps:

- Clean the mussels by scraping the beard using a knife. Scrub each mussel one by one.
- In a large non-sticky pot, heat up the oil and put in onions and garlic. Cook for about 3 minutes until the onions are soft. Add the curry paste, keep stirring until fragrant. Add coconut milk, lime juice, sugar and bring to a boil. Make sure the curry paste is well mixed in the liquid. Add the tomatoes, most of the coriander and the mussels and cover the lid to let it simmer, adjust the heat if needed. Occasionally stir the mussels and cook until the mussels have all opened, about 5 to 8 minutes depending on the quantities.
- Sprinkle the rest of the coriander and serve warm in the pot.

GRILLED SALMON FILLET WITH UMAMI RELISH

- 4 salmon fillets, each 6 oz (175 g), with skin
- 1 tbsp (15 ml) olive oil
- Salt and freshly ground pepper

UMAMI RELISH

Recipe from Food & Wine Magazine, Early Summer 2014 

- ¼ cup (60 ml) grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 tbsp (15 ml) tomato paste
- 2 tsp (10 ml) chopped anchovies
- 1 tbsp (15 ml) light soy sauce
- 2 tbsp (30 ml) olive oil

Steps:

- Brush all sides of salmon fillets with olive oil, and season with salt and pepper.

- Whisk together Parmesan, tomato paste, anchovies, soy sauce and oil.

- Preheat grill to high.

- Place fillets skin-side down on grill, close lid and grill for 7 to 9 minutes or until still slightly pink in the centre. Grill a few minutes longer to completely cook through if desired.

- Place on 4 serving plates and brush over umami relish.

* A little twist we did to the recipe: we used a whole salmon fillet (about 8 servings, 6 oz. per serving) and brushed the umami relish over the salmon fillet before putting it on the barbecue. The heat brought the flavor to the salmon but not overpowering it. It tasted amazing!