belgian-style mussels
Description
very quick and easy to make, much healthier "watching sports" snack food than wings
Ingredients
| 1 | Tablespoon | olive oil |
| 2 | shallots, minced | |
| 2 | celery stalks, thinly sliced | |
| 1 | Bunch | thyme (tied together for easy removal) |
| 2 | bay leaves | |
| 1 | Clove | garlic, minced |
| 16 | Ounce | good wheat beer |
| 3 | Tablespoon | unsalted butter |
| salt and pepper, to taste | ||
| 1 | Pound | prince edward island mussels, cleaned |
Instructions
heat oil on medium-low. when hot, add the shallots and celery, sauteing for two minutes. add the thyme, garlic, and bay leaves and continue to saute until shallots and celery are translucent (about another two to three minutes).
turn up the heat to medium-high and add the beer, butter, an aggressive pinch of pepper, a slightly less aggressive pinch of salt, and the mussels and stir. cover and cook until the mussels have opened (three to four minutes).
discard any unopened mussels and enjoy with a frosty mug of the same beer you threw in the sauce. delicious french fries (or crusty bread to soak up sauce) are non-optional accompaniment.
Notes
you can substitute a dry white wine for the beer for a different flavor; if you do this, i'd recommend increasing the garlic quotient to 2-3 cloves.
Comments
ally you are killin it with the seafood!!
my old roommate matt (the one who became chef of pizza by the inch), likes to add very finely chopped tomatoes to this right before covering.
somebody needs to post up a good french fries recipe for those of us w/o deep fryers
yah tomatoes would be a good addition to this! i made some pretty tasty fries to go with this just last night using my big heavy lodge dutch oven, i'll post the recipe. i feel like i am spamming the board with recipes tho!
I just made a huge pot of mussels last weekend, basically this recipe but with vermouth instead of wine or beer and a lot more garlic. Delicious over whole wheat linguine with a ton of chopped flat-leaf parsley.