by Amanda Bennett

Created on: March 04, 2009   Last Updated: December 28, 2009

If you are from any of our beautiful coast lines in Canada.(Like myself) Then you may like to eat your mussels with nothing but a little hot garlic butter and salt, which is by far THE best way to eat them! But if you're going to eat them in a sauce, a white wine is the way to go, hands down! You probably enjoy almost any type of seafood too!

FRESH MUSSELS, WITH WHITE WINE & GARLIC SAUCE 

Ingredients:

2 lbs. Fresh Mussels (one is NEVER enough) Washed and soaked for at least 1 hour, the longer the better.

1 1/2 cups of water

3/4 cup dry white wine

1/4 cup Sea Salt

1/2 Cup Of Butter

4 cloves Fresh Garlic chopped

3 Green Onions chopped (chive)

1/4 tsp. Dill, black pepper & celery salt

1/3 cup Fresh Herbs ie: flat-leaf parsley, chervil, or chopped basil,

1/4 cup of Shredded Parmesan cheese

Splash of Lemon Juice

Directions:

1) In a large pot, add mussels, water & sea salt. Let boil for 5 minutes on high heat, or until all shells have opened! *If you over cook seafood it will get rubbery*

2) In a medium size pot, add 1/3cup butter, garlic, onion & spices. Let cook on medium heat for 3-5 minutes

3) in a Large Skillet, add butter, white wine and 1/4cup water, cook on high heat for 3-5 minutes, add strained mussels to the hot skilliet. Add remaining spices.

4) Cook on high heat 2-3 minutes,  remove from heat, let stand 5 minutes. Top with a sprinkle of lemon juice. Serve steaming hot and enjoy.

*TIPS*

A) Washing & Soaking muscles, before you cook them will remove much of the sand & grit inside. Which will make eating them much more enjoyable to eat!

B) Muscles that have an open shell BEFORE cooking, this means that the muscle is already dead and should be thrown away! *DO NOT COOK & EAT THEM*

C) Muscles that are NOT open AFTER cooking, should also be thrown away! *DO NOT EAT THEM*

D) Over cooking seafood will cause it to be rubbery. People say that large lobsters are a waste, but if they are cooked right, they can be the most amazing thing you will ever eat. You just have to know what you are doing!

SPICY MUSSELS IN WHITE WINE SAUCE

Ingredients:

1/3 cup olive oil

1/2 onion, thinly sliced

4 large garlic cloves, chopped

2 teaspoons fennel seeds

1 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup dry white wine

2 1/4-inch-thick lemon slices

1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley

2 1/2 pounds fresh mussels, scrubbed, debearded

1/2 cup chopped seeded tomatoes

Directions:

A) Heat oil in heavy large pot over medium-high heat.

B) Add onion, garlic, fennel seeds, crushed red pepper and salt; sauté until onion is light brown, about 4 minutes.

C) Add wine, lemon slices and 1/4 cup parsley; bring to boil. Add mussels.

D) Cover pot and cook until mussel shells open, stirring once to rearrange mussels, about 6 minutes; discard any mussels that do not open.

E) Using slotted spoon, transfer mussels to large shallow bowl.

F) Boil broth in pot until reduced to 1 cup, about 3 minutes; season to taste with pepper. Pour broth over mussels. Sprinkle tomatoes and remaining parsley over top

Special thanks to epicurious.com, for this great recipe! http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Spicy-M ussels-in-White-Wine-1006

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