Mussels with Pernod Cream Sauce

I have been dreaming of a dish I had in Oakland last month. One night I went out to dinner at A Cote with some friends and we had these amazing mussels in a Pernod cream sauce. The sauce was so good, I wanted to pick up the bowl and drink it!

Tonight for dinner I tried to recreate the mussels and sauce. It was close, but not exact. I'm still not entirely sure what it's missing, but it was pretty delicious anyway!

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
4 medium shallots, chopped
1/3 cup Pernod
1 1/2 cups dry white wine
4 dozen mussels, scrubbed and debearded
3/4 cup light cream
1 tablespoon butter
2 teaspoons chopped fresh tarragon
salt and pepper

Soak mussels in cold water with salt and cornmeal overnight. Drain and rinse.

Heat the oil in a fairly large skillet pan over medium heat. Saute onion and shallots for about 2 or 3 minutes. Add Pernod and wine [if you have a gas stove, you should remove the skillet from the stove while doing this lest you burn your eyebrows off]. Simmer for 1 minute.

Add the mussels and cover. Increase the heat to high and steam, shaking the pan once or twice, until the mussels open, 5 to 7 minutes.

Discard any unopened mussels.

Using a slotted spoon, remove the mussels to a serving bowl and cover with foil to keep warm.

Using a fine-mesh strainer, strain the cooking liquid into a medium bowl. Wipe out the skillet and return the strained liquid. Boil over high heat until the liquid is reduced to about 1 cup, 5 to 7 minutes.

Reduce the heat to medium-low and stir in the cream, butter, tarragon, salt, and pepper. Divvy up the mussels into bowls and pour the sauce over.

Be sure to serve with really good bread to sop up the sauce.