A few months ago, when my boss was in town, we went out to eat at Anchor and Hope in San Francisco. I had the “Mediterranean Seafood Stew” with mussles, chorizo meatballs, and harissa lobster broth. From the first bite I knew that it didn’t taste like what I’d expected it to taste. Don’t get me wrong, it was very yummy.. but my taste buds remembered a different taste.. and I was slightly disappointed not to get it. I spend a few days after that dinner trying to figure out where I’d had seafood stew before. It’s not something I’d normally order. The whole while I was haunted by this memory of the super yummy stew and I wanted to have it again.
Finally I figured it out. Last year, while in LA we had dinner at Bubba Gumps. Yeah, you heard me, Bubba Gumps. While we were there I had their “Shrimpin Dippin Broth“. The dipping sauce was very memorable.
Finally I read a recent article in the Clean Eating Magazine from September/October that described “Garlicky Mussels” (p. 40) which looked lovely.. except for the cilantro. I’m one of “those” people. To me, cilantro tastes like soap. But, based on that it looked like it wouldn’t be terribly hard to “clean up” Bubba Gump’s Shimpin’ dippin’. So.. this recipe is kind of my own invention.. a melding of the three dishes. I made it tonight and OMG totally in heaven.
Mussles in dipping sauce
serves 4
Ingredients
2 tsp light olive oil
3 cloves garlic (diced)
2 onion
1-2 red, orange or yellow bell pepper1 bottle Clam Juice (8oz)
1 can chicken broth
1/2 tsp Cajun spices
1 tsp Worchestershire sauce
1/2 tsp pepper
1 Tbsp butter2 tomatoes (diced with seeds removed)
1 1/2 lb mussels
2 large handfuls of fresh spinach leaves6 scallions, bulb removed, white and green parts thinly sliced on the diagonal.
Instructions
Start a batch of brown rice cooking.Soak mussels in cold waters for 15-20 minutes. Toss any that open. Remove beards. In the meantime ad oil to a pan over medium high. When oil is hot add onion, pepper and garlic. Cook for 2-3 minutes until onion is lightly browned.
Add clam juice, broth, cajun spices worchester pepper and butter. Bring to a boil.
Add mussels, tomatoes and spinache. Cook for 6 to 8 minutes until shells open and mussels are cooked through.
Sprinkle with scallions and serve immediately with brown rice and a whole grain dipping bread.
Can also be made with oysters, clams or shrimp.