I don’t cook seafood too often (because Kevin strongly dislikes seafood), but yesterday, I had the whole day to myself and ended up making a version of a Thai inspired coconut soup with some mussels. The inspiration for this dish came from a meal I had a restaurant in the Over-the Rhine neighborhood of Cincinnati. Last year, some of my friends from Ohio threw a small bachelorette party for me in Cincinnati and brought me to a dainty wine bar and restaurant in OTR. We started the afternoon off with making candles at The Candle Lab before heading to Zula for dinner. When we got to the restaurant, we were seated almost immediately. We glanced at the menu and our eyes were immediately drawn to the mussel bar. The four of us ordered four pots of steaming mussels from the restaurant’s mussel bar and each took turns tasting the many soup bases. I ordered French classic filled with a creamy wine base. My friends ordered the Vietnamese Pho style, New Orleans style, and Thai style. Each soup base had its own distinctive flavors and aromas from the country it drew its inspiration from. The flavors of all four soup bases were so satisfyingly good. While I loved all of the different soup bases, the Thai version featuring Thai basil, coconut milk, fish sauce, lemon grass, and ginger was my favorite. At the time, I made a mental note to recreate this dish at home somewhere down the road. Well, more than a year later, I finally decided to recreate this dish. I put my own spin to the dish by making a cilantro citrus coconut soup base, and tossing some separately steamed mussels into the pot to finish simmering with the soup. The soup with the mussels turned out so good, I just had to share the recipe. My Thai inspired version of the soup base featured coconut milk, ginger, lime, lemon, cilantro, fish sauce, and soy sauce. All of the ingredients were added to the pot to simmer away. While the soup was simmering in one pot, I separately steamed some frozen mussels in its vacuum sealed package in a separate pot following the instructions on the package. Once the mussels began to open up, I removed the mussels from the package, tossed them in the coconut soup, and allowed the mussels to simmer in the soup for another minute before serving up the mussels and soup for lunch. My cilantro citrus coconut soup with mussels transported me back to the moment I shared with my friends over a year ago. The dish, while simple, was delicious and made for the perfect low-key weekend celebration dinner. My cilantro citrus coconut soup with mussels was creamy, bright, tangy, and savory. The soup paired perfectly with the steamed mussels. I just wish I had another bowl of soup and mussels waiting for me after I was done. Next time, I plan on recreating one of the other flavored soup bases.
Cilantro Citrus Coconut Soup with Mussels:
· 1 teaspoon sesame oil
· ½ inch piece of ginger
· ½ tablespoon fish sauce
· ½ tablespoon soy sauce
· 1 (13.66 fl. oz.) can unsweetened coconut milk
· 1 small lime, outer layer cut into twist and half of the lime juiced, other half of lime cut into wedges
· ½ small lemon, outer layer cut into twist and juiced
· ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
· 8-10 sprigs fresh cilantro, plus additional for garnishing
· package of frozen mussels
Directions:
1) Heat a Dutch oven pot on medium heat. Once hot, add the sesame oil and ginger. Let the ginger sizzle in the sesame oil for 30 seconds, stirring occasionally. Pour in the fish sauce and soy sauce. Add the can of coconut milk. Turn the heat down to medium-low. Let the coconut milk cook until it starts to simmer. Add the lime twist, lime juice, lemon twist, and lemon juice. Season with some kosher salt to taste. Add the bunch of cilantro sprigs. Let the soup simmer for 5 minutes.
2) Follow the cooking instructions on the frozen package of mussels. Once the mussels begin to open up, remove the mussels from the package and toss into the simmering coconut soup. Cook for an additional minute. Pour the mussels and soup into a large bowl. Garnish with some cilantro, and a wedge (or two) of lime.
Takeaways: You can serve the cilantro citrus coconut soup and mussels with half of a loaf of baguette for dipping. I didn’t have Thai basil on hand and did not include it in the soup. If you have access to Thai basil, you can also add a couple sprigs into the soup to further enhance the flavor or the soup.