We just finished up another Restaurant Week in Madison and I noticed that nearly every place we visited this year offered mussels on the menu. Not wanting the Restaurant Week fanciness to end, I was determined to craft up my own mussels recipe for the weekend. To my surprise and delight, I learned that not only are mussels incredibly cheap (they’re only $2-3 per pound and a pound is more than enough for one person), but they are even easier to prepare. These days farmed mussels arrive at the supermarket cleaned and debearded so the preparation is even quicker. Upon further research, I discovered that mussels are actually one of the most sustainable seafoods we can consume. Mussels are filter feeders, meaning they feed on plankton and other microscopic nutrients, actually cleaning and filtering the surrounding water where they are farmed. Moreover, farmed mussels are grown on ropes that never touch the seafloor, eliminating the need for destructive dredging. Affordable, sustainable and delicious? Count me in! I boiled my mussels in a spicy coconut curry broth, toasted up some baguette slices and voila – a 5 star meal in half an hour.
