Mussels With Caramelized Fennel Cream
A recipe by Ashley Rodriguez
A few days ago we caught up with our friend Ashley Rodriguez, a super talented chef and cookbook author based in Seattle.
Ashley is the author of Let’s Stay In and Date Night In. She is also host of the award-winning Kitchen Unnecessary, a series that showcases the magic of outdoor cooking with foraged ingredients.
We met Ashley on a retreat at Undercanvas Zion in 2017, since then, we’ve had the opportunity to co-host a workshop with her — in partnership with Feast Portland — and have her as a guest at our table in Victoria last Summer! Ashley will be our chef for our upcoming Supper in the Seattle area this September, she’s wrapping up the menu for the feast and we cannot wait to see the delicious magic she creates!
During our chat with Ashley, she showed us how to make Mussels With Caramelized Fennel Cream from her book, Let’s Stay In. If you want to follow Ashley’s step by step as we chat about life in the times of COVID-19 and her favorite books, you can find our conversation here. We made Ashley’s mussels a day after our chat and it was perfection!
“I spent far too much of my life not enjoying mussels. Heading into our three week European vacation a few years back I knew that I would regret not enjoying a heaping platter of Moules Frites while on the Normandy coast. Thank goodness I’m over that aversion and found myself slurping the briny sauce, eating crispy fries and drinking cold cider under the shadow of the brilliantly colored buildings in Honfleur.
In this recipe, the sweetness of the fennel is a lovely fit with salty mussels. The short list of ingredients and quick cook time make this dish a great fit for cooking over a campfire.”
Mussels with Caramelized Fennel Cream
Serves 4 to 6
1 tbsp olive oil
4 tbsp unsalted butter
2 large shallots finely diced — about 2/3 cups
2 large fennel bulbs, trimmed and diced — about 2 cups (reserve the fronds)
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp pepper
5 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
1 cup dry white wine
1 cup heavy cream
1 tbsp dijon mustard
4 lb mussels, scrubbed, debearded
Add the olive oil and 2 tablespoons butter to a large Dutch oven. Add the shallots, fennel, salt, and pepper to the pan. Sauté over medium high heat until the fennel is deeply caramelized, about 15 minutes. Don’t fret about any deep char on the bottom of the pan, that will create a roasted smokiness to the dish. Add the garlic and sauté for a couple of minutes more. Lower the heat to low, then carefully pour in the wine, simmer, and reduce the liquid by about half. Increase the heat to medium, then stir in the cream and Dijon, reduce for 5 minutes, then taste and adjust the seasoning as needed.
Turn the heat down to low and toss mussels in the broth. Cover the pot, let simmer and steam until the mussels pop open. Be sure to discard any that refuse to open. Stir in the remaining 2 tablespoons butter. Garnish with the fennel fronds.
Serve with plenty of good craggy bread to lap up that sauce and enjoy with that white wine you already have open!
Serving suggestions: Serve with crispy salt and vinegar roasted potatoes and arugula salad with crispy prosciutto and lime.
