Various flavors that were used in previous dishes can be a foundation for creating a completely different dish. This is one of those dishes. I love poblano peppers and tomatillos and I like making mussels with a broth for dipping. This combination of flavors turned out perfectly and don’t forget the tortillas for soaking up the sauce! See Chatty Advice if you are not sure how to purchase and clean mussels.
Ingredients
4 oz. of fresh tomatillos husk removed
3 poblano peppers
1/4 cup of Smart Balance brand butter or regular butter
1 cup of tomatoes diced about 2 Roma tomatoes or tomato of your choice
A pinch of kosher salt
1 cup of white wine
1 lb. of mussels
Non-stick cooking spray
Flour or corn tortillas for dipping
Technique
Peel the husk part off of the tomatillos and place onto a cookie sheet along with the poblano peppers. Spray with non-stick cooking spray and place into a preheated oven at 375 degrees for 15 minutes. Remove tomatillos once slightly brown. Continue to bake poblano until browned on all sides. About 5 more minutes depending on your oven. Remove and let peppers cool until skin can easily be removed. Remove the seeds and the stem and place the peppers along with the tomatillos, butter and salt into the blender or a magic bullet. Blend until smooth. Transfer to a small pot and simmer on low heat until ready to serve. While tomatillos and peppers are baking dice the tomatoes and fresh cilantro, set aside in separate dishes. Add mussels and wine to a medium size pot. Cover and steam over medium high heat until all mussels are opened. Drain liquid out of pot carefully not to get burned or loose any mussels. Add fresh tomatoes and broth. Toss and pour into a serving dish. Top with chopped cilantro leaves. Serve with warmed flour tortillas for dipping into the wonderful sauce.
Suggested Beverage
Try Root:1™ The Original Ungrafted Sauvignon Blanc (Casablanca Valley, Chili), Shades of Africa Sauvignon Blanc (Africa), Souverain Sauvignon Blanc (Alexander Valley, California), a Corona with a wedge of lime or any of our margaritas.
Chatty Advice
Mussel must be kept alive until they are cooked. So do not suffocate them in a plastic bag or drown them by soaking them in water. As soon as coming home from the grocery store, empty the bag of mussels into your sink. Thoroughly but quickly rinse all of the mussels. Place into a strainer filled with ice, place the mussels on top of the ice and place the strainer in a large deep container that the ice can melt into. Do not cover. Refrigerate until ready to cook them. When rinsing the mussels, any with cracked shells should be discarded. If you find any that will not close when handled or given a light tap, discard them as well, because they are dead. They will open to breath but once touched, tapped or are moved around they should close. If in doubt smell them. They will probably have a bad odor if they are dead. When mussels are cooked they should open. If some mussels did not open after cooking them, discard them. However, if half did not open they may not have been cooked long enough. Some mussels will only partially open, if in doubt, discard them.
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