This Red Coconut Curry Spaghetti Con Cozze was apart of my submission to IL Desco’s Italian Dinner Competition.
The competition post is here.
AWW YEAH!!! Red Coconut Curry Spaghetti Con Cozze was the star of the dinner and completely accidental! As much as I would like to chalk this dish up to my culinary creativeness…it simply is not true. I wanted to make Thai meatballs and spaghetti but forgot to pick up the ground pork…and the ground beef..and just about everything else that was necessary to make a meatball. It just slipped my mind.
I did, however, pick up 10 pounds of mussels. They were on sale and as evident…I’m a sucker for sales. I even used expired super market ads and left over coupons as a table cover for the shells. Love and BOGO are both four letter words that bring joy to my life. I have no shame in that. None…at…all.
The idea for a red curry pasta stemmed from pretty simple comparisons. Tomato sauce is red, red curry…is also red. Italians love pasta, Thais love pasta. I love pasta. That was it. The only reasons I needed for making this. The mussels were…improvised. Yeah…I really didn’t put too much thought in this one. That’s why I was so surprised with the outcome! Let me break this down for you…
Red Coconut Curry Spaghetti Con Cozze is
-Al Dente Spaghetti with the…
-Creaminess of an Alfredo…
-The heat and flavors of red curry..
-Cooled down by that naturally sweet coconut milk…
-Infused with the slight brininess of fresh mussels.
Italians cook with simplicity. I did that concept justice in this dish…I was lazy kept it simple. I used premade items for this plate. In my defense, I was making six other dishes. The pasta wasn’t from scratch. A mortar and pestle wasn’t involved in making the red curry paste. I didn’t nurture my mussels for two years in the hopes that they will be large enough to eat at that pivotal moment.
The best part is…you don’t have to either. There are so many flavors and aromas in this dish but they all come from very few ingredients. You know how you go to Thai restaurants and drown your rice in curry…well, same principle but with spaghetti. I wonder why this wasn’t made sooner. Please give this a try!
- 10 oz Dried Spaghetti
- Boiling Salted Water See notes
- 2 Dozen Mussels Cleaned and debeard.
- 3 tbsp Red Curry Paste
- 1 tbsp Oil
- 1 13.5oz can Coconut Milk
- 1-2 tsp Fish Sauce
- 2 Tbsp Brown Sugar
- 1 whole Lime Quartered
- 2 tbsp Cilantro
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Salt the water, the way the water taste will reflect how salty your pasta will be.
- Add in the spaghetti and cook for 7-9 minutes (you want 2 minutes below the recommended "al dente" time on the package). Strain when the pasta is cooked.
- Put a large pot or large skillet over medium heat. Add oil when the pot/skillet comes to temp and fry the red curry for 2 minutes. It should be fragrant but not burnt.
- Add the Coconut milk, fish sauce, brown sugar and the juice of 1/4th of a lime. Stir.
- Bring this mixture to a boil and add mussels when you see bubbles. Cover for 4-5 minutes.
- Remove the lid, the mussels should have opened up and released some water.
- Toss in your spaghetti and let it sit for 1-2 minutes to absorb the curry goodness. Mix in 1 tbs cilantro and garnish with another tbs of cilantro and the rest of your lime wedges.
The mussels that are open (prior to cooking) should be thrown away (they are dead). Some are alive though, just tap them and if they close up then they are good to use.
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