Cold And Creamy Mussel Soup

Total Time: 20 mins Preparation Time: 20 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 420
• 2 lbs small mussels (about 48, fewer if they are large mussels)
• 2/3 cup water
• 2 cups plain yogurt (nonfat or low-fat)
• 2 -3 teaspoons dijon-style mustard, to taste
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon fresh ground pepper (to taste)
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon, divided
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pernod
• 1 1/2 cups finely diced cucumbers, peeled if waxed

Recipe

• 1 prepare mussels by debearding and rinse them well. place them in a pot that has a lid. add the water, cover, and bring to as boil over high heat. steam the mussels for 5 to 7 minutes, or until they open and are just cooked. they should be tender.
• 2 remove mussels from the cooking pot with a slotted spoon and set them aside to cool. strain the cooking liquid through several layers of cheesecloth and reserve one cup of it (freeze the rest for other uses).
• 3 remove the meat from the shells and discard the shells.
• 4 to prepare the soup, whisk the yogurt in a large bowl until it is smooth, then stir in the cup of reserved cooking liquid, mustard, sugar, pepper, 4 teaspoons of the tarragon, and the pernod. add the mussel meat. chill the soup; add the diced cucumber before serving and serve in shallow bowls, each garnished with 1/2 teaspoons of the remaining tarragon.