Cooking Mussels
I love
cooking with mussels. They are
plentiful, inexpensive, tasty, and can be used in a variety of simple recipes. A two pound bag goes for around five dollars,
depending on where you live and where you purchase them. We recently bought about two dozen very fresh ones at a
supermarket in Maine and paid only about two bucks, which cost about the same as the toothpaste we
were getting that day! Anyway, if you are a fan of clams
and the like, I hope this post will get you to give these sweet, succulent
mollusks a try.
To get
started you’ll want to clean the mussels well by scrubbing the shells under running water. Using a knife, remove the so-called “beard” which allows
the mussels to adhere to ocean rocks. They’re
usually not very dirty, though, so this step shouldn’t take too long. Then, you are ready to begin cooking. The classic way of preparing mussels in
France or Belgium is moules marinières which couldn’t be
easier. Just sweat some chopped onion and garlic in olive oil in a heavy saucepan.
When the vegetables are soft but not brown, pour in about a cup of dry
white wine and bring to a boil. Add in two
to three pounds of mussels cover and steam over high heat for five
to ten minutes, shaking the pot from time to time, till all have opened. Discard any mussels which remain closed. Top with finely chopped fresh parsley. Et
voilà! There you have it. So quick, so simple, so good. The Belgians serve them with crispy French
fries (moules frites), but you could have crusty bread or even pasta with this dish.
A variation of this same recipe which we tried once in Normandy is moules
à la Normande. It starts out the
same, but at the end of cooking you pour in a cup of heavy cream. How bad could that be?
One of
the best spicy creations with mussels we ever tried was years ago in a seaside
restaurant on Nantucket Island. We liked
the Portuguese-style dish so well, in fact, that we went back a second time a
few days later to have the same thing!
Of course, I don’t know the exact ingredients used at that particular
place, but I found one from Martha Stewart which sounds kind of similar.
You start out cooking a shallot and
several cloves of garlic in a little oil.
Add in red pepper flakes to taste, 2 cups of dry white wine, about a
half-cup of diced spicy chorizo sausage, and 3 cups of crushed canned tomatoes
with juice. Simmer for 15 minutes or so,
then add the mussels and proceed as above.
Sprinkle with fresh parsley, if desired, before serving. 
Mussels are very well suited to any kind of Thai recipe as well. To celebrate our wedding
anniversary in August we went to Solo Bistro, a small, but
very nice restaurant in Bath, Maine. My mussels
appetizer was truly delicious and, from the look of it, quite easy to make. The menu noted that they were cooked in coconut
milk, red Thai curry paste, and fresh basil.
I suppose before adding those items you could start out with the shallot
and garlic as in the previous recipe.
Yum! I think I slurped up every
drop of the sauce! Finally,
I have done mussels as in the above recipes only beginning with fennel, garlic, and
onion. This makes a delightful broth.
I hope this post gets your creative juices flowing and, especially if you haven't tried mussels before, that you'll give it a go.
3 comments:
Thanks Jane--I am a huge mussels fan but often forget to buy and cook them. Jerry likes them too...maybe this week!
Try it out; I think you'll like it! :)
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