how2heroes » Fragrant Thai Mussels w/ Lime & Green Papaya

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Ingredients

10½ oz white wine
2½ oz fish sauce
2½ oz fresh lime juice
2 shallots, thinly sliced
1 tbsp garlic, minced
3 red or green jalapenos, sliced
2 lbs mussels, preferably Prince Edward Island, scrubbed and beards removed
2 to 3 tbsp butter
1 pint cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
1 oz Thai basil leaves, whole
1 oz cilantro leaves, whole
½ green papaya, julienned
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
canola or grapeseed oil for cooking

How-to

In a bowl make the broth by combining white wine, fish sauce and lime juice. Set aside
Coat the bottom of a large wok or sauté pan with oil and heat over high heat. Add shallots and garlic and sauté until fragrant and softened, about 1 minute. Add jalapenos and mussels and sauté for 1 minute
Deglaze the wok with broth, add butter, and cover. Allow mussels to cook until all the mussels have opened, 3 to 5 minutes. Remove cover and add tomatoes, lime, Thai basi, and cilantro leaves, and green papaya. Continue cooking for approximately 2 minutes, until the broth has reduced by one-half and the green papaya is al dente
Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Transfer the mixture to large pasta bowls, and arrange the mussels on top of each portion

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Ming Tsai

Ming Tsai was raised in Dayton, Ohio, where he spent hours cooking alongside his mother and father at their family-owned restaurant, Mandarin Kitchen. Ming attended Yale University, earning his degree in Mechanical Engineering. He spent his junior summer at Le Cordon Bleu cooking school in Paris. After graduating from Yale, Ming worked in kitchens around the globe.

In 1998, Ming opened Blue Ginger in Wellesley, MA and immediately impressed diners from Boston and beyond with the restaurant's innovative East-West cuisine. In its first year, Blue Ginger received 3 stars from the Boston Globe, was named "Best New Restaurant" by Boston Magazine, was nominated by the James Beard Foundation as "Best New Restaurant 1998," and Esquire Magazine honored Ming as "Chef of the Year 1998." The James Beard Foundation crowned Ming "2002 Best Chef Northeast" and, since 2002, the Zagat Restaurant Guide has rated Blue Ginger the "2nd Most Popular Boston Restaurant." In 2007, Blue Ginger received the Ivy Award from Restaurants & Institutions for its achievement of the highest standards in food, hospitality and service, and in 2009, Ming and Blue Ginger won IFMA's Silver Plate Award in the Independent Restaurant category recognizing overall excellence in the country.

Ming is also a national spokesperson for the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network (FAAN). For four years, Ming worked with Massachusetts Legislature to help write Bill S. 2701, which was recently signed into law. This groundbreaking legislation, the first of its kind in the US, requires local restaurants to comply with simple food allergy awareness guidelines.