When I was younger my parents used to order pizza from this place in town that had free mussels in marinara sauce on Thursday nights (or some night of the week). I never ate them then, but boy do I love them now.
I pretty much love mussels any way you cook them, in cream sauce, in curry sauce, in marinara sauce. The options are really endless.
A handful of years ago my girlfriend, Ashley, & I were visiting her mom (Sandy McGee!!) in Houston. Sandy took us to this quaint little French restaurant that served up the absolute best mussels. Ever. I can't wait to go back there. In the mean time I'll live vicariously through Ashley who got to enjoy those heavenly mussels in the most delicious broth ever while she was home for Thanksgiving. I'm drooling just thinking about them.
In any event, I was inspired at the grocery store this weekend where I snatched up a 2lb. bag of mussels for $3.99! I haven't yet mastered mussels in cream sauce (YET) but I've got marinara down pat (thanks to my mom!).
Click through for a quick marinara sauce you can steam your mussels in & serve over linguini or with some crusty bread. Yum!
Ingredients:
- 2 lbs mussels, wash & debeard
- 2 large shallots, chop (use 2 small onions if you don't have shallots)
- 1 head garlic, chop
- 1 can diced tomatoes + juice
- salt & pepper
- olive oil
- 1 handful fresh basil, chiffonade
Make it!
- Add a few table spoons of olive oil to a deep sided large skillet. Add chopped shallots. Sweat the shallots with salt & pepper over low heat for about 5 minutes.
- Add chopped garlic.
- Add diced tomatoes.
- Add salt & pepper to taste.
- Cook sauce for about 7 minutes until all of the flavors have melded together.
- Add mussels to your marinara sauce & cover pot. Cook for 5-10 minutes or until the shells have opened. Discard any mussels that haven't opened.
- Remove from heat. Toss with basil.
- Serve immediately over pasta or with crusty bread, or both!
Yummmm
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