As my July edition of my New Years Resolution I went with mussels. I’ve had these in restaurants before mostly mixed with other seafood. They are super easy to cook and make a nice light meal. I happened to double the recipe and at the bottom of this post you’ll see how easy it is to make 2 meals out of the same recipe.
Basic Steamed Mussels with White Wine and Shallots
(Adapted from Charlie Palmer Group)
Serves 4
3 lb mussels, preferably small cultivated
1 C white wine
1 T fresh squeezed lemon juice
2 each shallots, fine chop
1 clove garlic, fine chop
2 each fresh thyme sprigs, or 1/2t dried
1 each bay leaf
3 T parsley, fine chop
4 T butter, optional
to taste fresh ground pepper
Wash the mussels, scrubbing them well under cold running water. Pull off any pieces of protruding beard. Tap any mussels that are open lightly on a counter. If they do not close, discard them (they are probably dead).
In a large pot, combine the wine, shallots, garlic, thyme and bay leaf, and bring to a boil over medium heat.
Simmer for about five minutes, then add the mussels.
Cover, turn the heat to high and cook for 3 to 4 minutes, shaking the pot occasionally to redistribute the mussels. When steam starts to shoot out from under the lid, turn the heat to medium. Take off the lid and check to see if all the mussels have opened. If not, replace the lid and cook for 2 minutes more. At this point, discard any mussels that have not opened.
Transfer the mussels to four shallow bowls. If the liquid in the bottom of the pan is sandy, carefully pour it into a clean saucepan, leaving grit in the old pan.
Heat the broth, add the chopped parsley, whisk in the butter and season with pepper.
Ladle it over the hot mussels. Serve.
Since I doubled the recipe I separated the mussels and the shells then cooked some egg noodles and served with the remaining mussels and sauce. I think we liked this way best, but either way you need some nice French bread to soak up all the goodness!
No comments:
Post a Comment