Okay People, Give Me Some Help In Using This Leftover Sauce.

We make our mussels in a sauce of Spanish olive oil, saffron, onions, garlic, parsley, basil, pepper, and chives. Use also Vermouth, and white wine, then throw the good ones in the boiling wine. Slop up a lot of the sauce with sourdough bread.

BIG question is what would you do with the leftover mussel sauce?? I am short on any ideas, and hate having to throw away this great sauce. Appreciate any ideas you can give me, maybe based on your experiences.

Can you freeze it? Sounds devine with the sourdough bread. What about over a nice pasta?

Serve it with shrimp, calamari, crab, etc.

Use it in a Bouillabaisse.

Similar to Nola’s suggestion I remove the mussels to a separate container, then if i want to go in a soup direction extend the sauce with some fish stock. Add a few other shellfish if you have them along with some sauteed fennel. I will do similarly and extend the sauce with some cream and some shrimp for a pasta sauce. Two keys: 1 remove the mussels from the shell and do not reheat with the sauce. 2 consider straining the sauce as there will usually be a bit of grit or broken shell or something you don’t wish to chomp on left behind.

I was thinking the same thing. Add some red wine, crushed red pepper, crushed tomotoes, a little V-8 juice, jar of clam juice and use it as a Cioppino base.

Lots of good suggestions already would only add that if you drizzled that over a grilled razor clam it would be arousing.

Or… extend w a bechamel or add a bunch of citrus and use as a ceviche dressing.

Or with the bechamel, make croquetas Spanish style…

Checked with our local (actually in Chico) goodie food shoppe, and find they have calamari and prawns. Can also get Dungeness crab, so will try that combo in the leftover sauce. Will freeze the sauce until we get all the other ingredients together, and maybe extend it with some additions suggested. Again, thanks for a lot of good info!!

Billi Bi Soup

Here is the resulting mash-up recipe.

PRAWNS,CALAMARI/SCALLOPS,LEFTOVER MUSSEL SAUCE WITH PASTA

Ingredients:
½ pound calamari or scallops
½ pound prawns, shelled and cleaned
½ pound linguine
leftover mussel sauce *** (see below)
1 tablespoon capers
basil, chiffonaded
kosher salt & fresh ground black pepper
juice and zest of ½ lemon
sourdough baguette

Instructions:
Cook linguine in salted water, till al dente
Slice calamari into rounds, using tentacles too.
Warm leftover mussel sauce to bubbling, and add capers.
Add prawns and calamari or scallops to the hot sauce, and cover and cook for 3-5 minutes, till prawns and calamari/scallops are cooked through.
Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper to taste.
Drain pasta, and mix sauce, with prawns and calamari/scallops
Add lemon juice and zest to dish.
Garnish with chiffonaded basil and serve with sourdough baguette.

** Mussels in Sauce:
Ingredients:
medium onion, fine chopped
5-6 peeled garlic cloves, fine chopped
2-3 Roma tomatoes, finely chopped
.70g, (.020 oz) Spanish Saffron, smashed up
3 tablespoons butter
couple of dashes of olive oil
fresh ground black pepper
most of a bottle of Vermouth
package of fresh chives


Assembly:
In a large pot, melt butter and olive oil together over low heat. Add the smashed up saffron, and let it bloom for 5-10 minutes. Add garlic and onion, and cover, letting all ingredients soften. Then add the pepper and tomatoes, and some of the Vermouth. Cover and let cook for about 5 minutes. Stir at times, until veggies are soft, and all is saffron color. Check mussels are all alive, discarding any that are open and refuse to close (that will teach them to obey). Add the rest of the Vermouth, bring to a boil, and add mussels, covered. Chop chives finely, and put over mussels. Mix mussels with all veggies and saffron mixture, adjusting seasoning (maybe some kosher salt) to taste, and serve with sliced or torn baguette.

Just use more bread or naan.