Mussels

MMMMMM mussels. They are so cheap, so easy and so delicious that anyone who enjoys eating them but never makes them is insane. You can make a giant pot of mussels, cut up a loaf of some kind of good, crusty bread, maybe make a salad and you have dinner on the table in ten minutes for under $10.

Sometimes it's fun to get fancy pants and do all sorts of exotic thai lemongrass or Indian spiced mussels to be sure, but for The Kid, it's always classic,  straight up white wine, garlic and buttery tomatoes. Bottom line is that there is no excuse to not make them so don't be a crazy person. Go and buy yourself a bag of mussels and get cracking.

Mussels in White Wine

serves 2 as a main course or 3 or 4 as an appetizer

2 lb mussels

3 tbls butter
3 shallots, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
pinch chili flakes
2 large plum tomatoes, chopped
1/2 cup white wine
1 cup chopped italian parsley
1/2 cup chopped basil

Cook the onion, chili flake  and garlic in the butter in a heavy bottomed pot over medium heat until the onions are soft.  Turn up the heat to high and add the mussels.  Pour in the white wine and stir for about 1 minute.  Stir in the tomatoes, parsley and basil and cover and cook for 5 minutes until all the mussels have opened.

Serve the mussels in large bowl with the broth and some nice, crusty bread to sop up the juice.

** when you buy mussels, try to buy them the day you are going to cook them. Once you get them home from the store, give them a rinse and put them in a colander set in a bowl, cover with a damp towel or dampened paper towels and keep in the fridge until it's time to use them. They might require a bit of a debearding but most mussels these days come pretty clean already.

good basic info on buying,storing and cooking muscles