 Innkeeper's Mussel Chowder
5 lb Penn Cove or other Northwest mussels
1 c water (or white wine)
2 medium potatoes, peeled & diced
1 large yellow onion, diced
1 stalk celery, diced
2 Tb butter
1 28-oz can tomato sauce
2 c heavy cream
1 1/2 tsp dried basil
2 tsp curry powder
salt & pepper, to taste
Steam mussels in a covered pot with the water until they open. Shuck them, reserving both the cooking liquid and the mussel meats.
Parboil the potatoes until halfway done. Drain.
Saute the onion and celery in the butter until the onions turn translucent. Add the potatoes and toss to coat with butter.
Over medium heat, add the tomato sauce, cream and reserved mussel liquid, stirring well. Add basil, curry, salt and pepper. Simmer 35 minutes, stirring frequently from the bottom to prevent scorching.
Add mussels. Heat through and serve.
When you make this chowder, be sure to taste and correct the seasoning. Mussels vary greatly in saltiness.
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This recipe is one of those "old favorites", and is in our cookbook. The Innkeeper's Mussel Chowder was on our first menu in October of 1981 and has been on every menu since. We took gallons of this chowder with us to the Taste of Washington, sponsored by the Washington Wine Commission on April 23, and we promised many of you who stopped by our booth that we'd share the recipe on this site. A bowl of steaming chowder accompanied by hot-out-of-the-oven Asiago Cheese and Black Pepper bread, a salad with Salalberry Vinaigrette and a glass of Cascade Ridge or Badger Mountain Organic Chardonnay is a meal you won't soon forget!
In recent years, we have served this recipe with mussels AND clams (1/2 and 1/2). We like it even better, and we enjoy having a chance to feature our delicious Willapa Bay Littleneck clams. Try it either way!
Makes 8 cups
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