Mussels in Garlic Butter & Wine Sauce

Happy Saturday everyone!  So today I wanted to share a recipe that I have been kind of obsessed with lately.  A month or so ago a friend of mine took me to one of their favorite seafood restaurants.  Since it was his choice I let him order all of our food.  One of the dishes on the menu that he was adamant I try was the steamed mussels.  Now…I consider myself a pretty adventurous person when it comes to food, I’ll try most things at least once.  However, up until now I couldn’t bring myself to eat a mussel.  There is a quote that goes, “He was a bold man that first ate an oyster” I mean…look at them? I think the same thing can be said for mussels, let’s be honest, they’re not very visually appealing but listen…looks can be oh so deceiving.

So, my friend orders this mussels dish I try one and I immediately go from someone who was apprehensive about eating mussels to being utterly obsessed with them! Lol, no joke. I am not ashamed to say (well, maybe I’m a little ashamed to say) that after that meal, I went back to the restaurant three times within two weeks just to have them. They were that good.

I am happy to say that I was successful!  If you have never had mussels this is a great gate-way dish. And if you do like mussels but have never made them at home you’re going to love how easy this dish is to put together. My only requirement is that the ingredients you use are super fresh. Fresh butter, garlic and wine.  Since there are so few ingredients in this you want to make sure what you use are at their best.

Let’s talk about all the PROs in this recipe:

• Mussels are relatively inexpensive. I got a pound of mussels from my local supermarket for under five bucks!
• There are minimal ingredients, some of which you probably already have on hand.
• Very simple cooking method.
• There is garlic, butter AND wine. ‘Nuff said.
• This presentation of this is really beautiful. It’s perfect as an appetizer for a grown-up dinner party or a sexy dinner for two.
• It’s DELICIOUS!

So, now that you have every reason to make this (unless you’re allergic to shellfish, and in that case I’m sorry) let’s get cooking.

First things first, we want to make sure two very important things. One, is making sure all of you mussels are still alive. This a two-step process. The reason for this, is one they die there is no way of telling how long they’ve been that way. You don’t want to eat a mussels that’s been dead for two weeks. I imagine you would become very familiar with your bathroom after that. So don’t skip this step.

Step one, any mussels that are open gently try to close it. If the mussel is alive you will see it slowly close its shell on its own. If you press it close and it just stays open, that little mussel is no longer with us, and should be discarded. (Step two comes after the cooking is complete. Any mussels that have not opened after cooking are also dead and should be discarded.)

Now it’s time to clean them. Put all the mussels in a bowl of cold water, give them a rinse and pull off any of the beards. The beards are the little fibers on the shell. The mussels use these to attach to rocks. Pull this off by pulling it down towards the bottom of the shell.

And that’s it for prepping the mussels.  Really that is the most challenging part, besides chopping the garlic and parsley.

Now I love, love, love garlic. So I used a pretty generous amount. But please, use whatever amount you’re comfortable with.

Melt your butter and add some olive oil to maintain a good smoke point.  Once butter is melted, add the garlic. Sauté the garlic until fragrant, about 5-6 minutes then add the broth and wine.  You want to cook the wine until all the alcohol burns off.  So bring to a rigorous simmer and cook uncovered  for another 5 minutes. Now it’s time to add the mussels.

Add the mussels to the pot and over. Cook for about 8 minutes. All the mussel shells should be open, the mussels themselves cooked through. Any shells that did not open be sure to toss in the garbage.

Finish off with chopped parsley and its ready to serve.

And that’s it! Easy right? Now you could serve this with linguine tossed in butter and garlic but my favorite way to enjoy these is in a big bowl, with plenty of the broth with slices of French bread. I eat a mussel then then dip a piece of bread in that garlicky, buttery, wine-y deliciousness and I am set.

Please try this. Then let me know if you too are obsessed. I don’t want to be the only one. 🙂