Going out for dinner is kind of tough with a 1.5 year old. With that said, we tend to stay home a lot and cook dinner. That’s not necessarily a bad thing in that I guess we save a considerable amount of money.
For Liz and my 5th anniversary, we decided to do something a little different. I’ve had a taste for mussels lately and seeing that we are in what I consider a “safe month” for eating seafood (away from the coasts), I went to our local fishmonger and bought a few pounds of mussels. You know you are at a good seafood store when it doesn’t “smell like fish”. What’s even better, is when you bring your purchase home and your house isn’t smelling like fish.
I never made mussels before, but after reading some recipes in some of our cookbooks, I was reassured that in only 3 steps, I would have a restaurant-quality meal… Guess what? It worked! In all honesty (and here I go patting my own back), this may have been one of the most delicious meals that has ever been cooked in our kitchen. The crazy part is that it may have also been the easiest…
Mussels (my way):
- Melt a good hunk of butter with a generous “glug” of olive oil in a large stockpot/dutchoven
- Saute two finely sliced shallots until they begin to go slightly translucent
- Add one can of chopped Italian tomatoes
- Add two cups of good white wine and bring to boil
- Dump all of your clean/de-bearded mussels (approximately one pound per person ~ remember it’s all shell weight!) in the pot *
- Give things a quick shake/stir and put a tight-fitting lid on things
- Patiently wait 10 minutes while your kitchen smells amazing
- Remove the lid to make sure the shells have opened up
- Flip another little pad of butter into the pot (remember you’re not eating this daily, go for it!) and give things a stir/shake/flip and throw in a handful of chopped parsley
- Pour all of the goodness into a very large bowl
- Place on table and devour with loved ones (oh, and don’t forget the baguette for dipping!)
The above recipe is a hybrid of one of Anthony Bourdain’s and my imagination. Next time, we’re going to try cooking them in Guinness…
* – I’m assuming you know how to tell the “good mussels” from the “bad mussels”
