Good Eats: Super Bowl Edition

The Super Bowl has come and gone, but really for me the game is the least exciting part of the night (sorry football fans). I really am 'that' person that would rather watch the commercials; I like advertisements and seeing how creative companies can get. This year's 'theme' was much more sentimental than humorous. Have to say I enjoyed the Budweiser 'Puppy Love' commercial the best. 

But let's get real, the most important part of Super Bowl is the F-O-O-D! This year's menu included:

• 'Skinny' Crab Dip
• Curried Crab Ragoons
• Homemade Jalapeno Poppers
• Curried Mussels
• Beer Sampling

In no way did I mean to go 'theme' with the seafood and curry, but I thought to myself what recipes from the past few months have the husband and I liked the best and this is what I came up with.

This is my second time making this mussel recipe and it is by far my favorite of any mussel recipe I've made myself or tried in a restaurant; with the plus side being it's really not that complicated to make. Below is the recipe with a few 'healthier' changes (here is the original).

Ingredients

• 3lbs fresh mussels, cleaned
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1 tbsp
• 1/4 cup shallots, chopped
• 4-5 garlic cloves
• 1 tbsp curry powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tbsp red pepper flakes
• dash of ground black pepper
• 1 1/2 cups dry white wine
• 1/2 cup light coconut milk
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 2 tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped

Instructions

1. Heat butter and olive oil over medium heat. Cook shallots and garlic for three minutes. Add curry powder, salt, red pepper flake and black pepper. Cook for another two minutes.
2. Add white wine and cook for another three minutes. Add coconut milk, cream and cilantro and stir.
3. Add mussels and cover. Cook for 3-5 minutes. Shells will pop open when ready.

Serve with your choice of bread.

To enjoy throughout the evening, we stopped at a local craft beer store and picked out a 6-pack sampler. Not picture was a beer from Evil Twin Brewery called Justin Blabaer; one of the husband's favorite so it didn't quite make it to the next day. This weekend's lot was:

1. PILS (Czech Style Pilsner) - Lagunitas: GREAT!
2. Bar Harbor Blueberry Ale - Atlantic Brewing: too sweet
3. Snapshot Wheat - New Belgium Brewing: GREAT!
4. KoKo Brown - Kona Brewing: interesting
5. 1554 Enlightened Black Ale - New Belgium Brewing: just okay