Where’s The Beach
Published by Carolin on Tagged Appetizer, Barbeque, Dinner, Lunch, Shellfish
I am looking for some Mussels. Not Muscles, Mussels. One of the best things ever, to come from the sea. I absolutely love them. I have never once had them where I said, “Oh I don’t like those. They are very versatile. You can prepare them many ways and to me they are always delicious. There are many types of mussels. I usually have the ones that are in a black shell. For me those are the most available to me. I have also enjoyed the larger ones from New Zealand, which are very tasty as well. You can eat them on their own or you can steam them. You can serve them with pasta. The list goes on. We have a local restaurant/pub that on Tuesday has a special on Mussels and it just so happens that my husband and I go out on Tuesday for our date night. So needless to say there are a lot of our date nights going to this pub.
This summer my husband and I celebrated our 22nd anniversary and we went to a restaurant called Cilantro’s it is here in Calgary and they serve their mussels in a creamy type sauce with black beans. I thought I was in heaven. Their sauce is so popular that you can actually just buy the sauce.
Most places serve mussels with some crusty bread. So you can sop up all the sauce. This fills me up to much. I would rather have more mussels and then what I do is spoon up the sauce and eat it like that. I am drooling as I am writing this.
Mussels are very easy to prepare at home. There is just a few things you need to know about this little jewel before you start cooking with them first of all like any seafood, when you go to buy it always smell it first. As long as it smells like sea and not like some dead old fish, you know it is fresh. The shells should be closed. If they are open this means that the mussels is more than likely dead. Yuck you don’t want that. Then you have to clean them. A lot of times now they come pretty much cleaned for you. But if not give them a bit of a scrub and remove the beard. That is the fuzzy little thing by the hinge as I call it. Then you cook them. Now that they are cooked any mussels that did not open you want to discard. This usually means something is wrong with them. The last thing you need to remember is once they are open they are done cooking. Do Not over cook them. They will become like rubber. There you go Mussels 101.
Now here is a recipe I love. It is anything but traditional. But it is easy. You can do this in the oven or on the Barbeque.
Garlic-Herb Mussels
2lb mussels
6 garlic cloves chopped
1 cup of parsley chopped
½ cup butter
Salt and pepper to taste
Preheat oven to 450°F
Place mussels in a 13×9 baking dish. When I am doing lots I use a sheet pan. Blend the rest of the ingredients in a food processor. Spoon over the mussels. Cover tightly with foil and bake for about 12-15 minutes. Check them at this point as long as the majority of the mussels are open. They are done.
Enjoy them just like this and serve with some crusty bread and a nice salad. Or serve over pasta.
TIP OF THE DAY
You can eat mussels just with your hands and the shell. Take the shell apart. Use the shell that doesn’t have the mussel on it to scoop out the mussel on the other shell. So easy.
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