If you look back to yesterday’s post of Red Wine and Radicchio Risotto, I mentioned that I would be posting a few other dishes that I made that night for a mini-dinner-party. This is what we ate for our starter. Since I was spending most of my time stirring the risotto, I wanted a quick mussels dish that required little work. If you want a quick mussels preparation, this is your dish.
You can easily substitute the shallots for onions, use butter instead of oil. Just need the white wine and some water and you’re good to go. Oh, and don’t forget the mussels.
Ingredients:
Serves 2-4 as a starter/appetizer
2 pounds mussels, cleaned and debearded
3 shallots or 1 small onion, diced
1 cup white wine
3/4 cup water
3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
2 small tomatoes, chopped
3 tablespoons olive oil
In a large saute pan with a lid, heat the shallot/onion and garlic in the olive oil over medium heat until softened, about 5 minutes. Add mussels, wine, water, tomatoes and bring to a boil. Cover and steam until all mussels open, about 2 minutes. Toss any mussels that do not open.
Season with salt and pepper and pour into a serving bowl. Serve with optional french baguette for dipping into broth. Enjoy!!
ARGH! I've been trying to make mussels for a couple of weeks now, but Whole Foods is always out of them. Now I'm doubly determined. Looks so easy and delicious!
its definitely a quick and easy method. I posted another recipe a few months back that I like even more than this.
http://www.carnivoreandvegetarian.com/2010/01/quick-classic-french-mussels.html
how do you clean & debeard the mussels when they are not yet opened? Clueless herb1419
to clean them you can do a few things. You can soak them in cold water with a little cornmeal to remove any sand. If there is a beard, you pull it with pliers or by hand toward the hinge. And also you can scrub them to remove anything else that might be stuck to the shell.