When I was a boy, I lost too many summers scraping too many baby mussels from the bottom of my Dad's runabout. I enjoyed this job as much as weeding his beloved pineapple patch. It was not until college that I discovered the better side of bivalves when my friend Kurt Westfall handed me a claw hammer and took me wading near his home in St. Petersburg. We wore old canvas Keds, canvas gloves, and carried canvas paper boy's bags.
Not surprisingly, the French created the best recipe for mussels, called Moules Mariniere, and my wife Lou and I have used it successfully with clams and oysters. It is great beach food. At home we always prepare more than we need, and the leftovers make a rich, heady pasta sauce for later in the week.
My old drinkin' buddy, Michael Vaughan, a wine/food/travel writer for The National Post of Toronto, was for 18 years a fish monger to the top restaurants of Toronto. When he and Rosie came to visit my wife and me, he would often bring bags of mussels. Michael taught me that shellfish from the northern hemisphere are best in the cooler months, from October through April when they store fat.
Because they are widely farmed, mussels are less expensive than clams and oysters, and they taste fine to me. In addition, farm raised mussels are easier to clean than wild. My favorites are the green-lipped variety. Three pounds of mussels yields about 1 pound of meat. I usually buy 24 per person, enough for discarding dead ones and for leftovers. Ask your store for the freshest bag of mussels. You want them alive. By law grocers must keep records of the date of harvest and location, so do not shy from asking for this info. Mussels usually are shipped in mesh bags, and should be stored on ice. Sniff them before you buy. They should smell like a handful of fresh seaweed. They should not smell fishy. If there are dead ones, the will have a rotting or fecal smell. The nose knows.
Mussels are naturally high in protein and minerals, and have a great flavor. Depending upon their origin, they can vary in brininess and fattiness.
If you cannot use the mussels immediately, wrap them in wet newspaper and put them in a bowl in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours. If you wish, a few hours before serving, submerge them with one tablespoon of salt per quart of water. Some people think this helps them spit out any sand or grit. Some people put in a few tablespoons of flour for the same purpose, and it is said that this fattens them up.
When you are ready to cook mussels, squeeze each one between your thumb and forefinger trying to slide the shells across each other. There should be strong resistance. If they slide easily, they are dead and should be discarded. If one is a lot heavier than the rest, it may be filled with mud or sand, so crack it open. Chipped or broken shells should be discarded, too, because the mussel is likely dead. It is often said that open shells should be discarded, but this is not true. Some live mussels open up after they have been out of water for a while. If the shells hold firm, and they smell fresh and salty, keep them. The nose knows.
Once you have culled the live from the questionable, rinse them thoroughly, and let them soak in water a few hours, changing the water frequently to get any stale water out of their systems.
This selection and rinsing process is critical because one stiff in a batch will stink up the kitchen, give you a nasty tummy ache, and is sufficient reason to order pizza.
Some mussels have beards. These hairy fiolaments hold them in place in the wild. By the time they reach the store, most have had their beards removed. In case they haven't, or some fibers remain, cut them with a scissors. Do not yank them off or you maigh kill the mussel.
Here is our mussels mariniere recipe. You can do it on a campfire or a grill, ore even indoors. You can vary and alter the ingredients to taste. It tastes great, and it's finger food.
Yield. Makes 6 servings
Preparation time. 25 minutes
Cooking time. 20 minutes
Ingredients
100 fresh mussels
1 cup tart white wine such as a Washington Sauvignon Blanc or Semillon. We once used a sweet/tart moscato, and it was wonderful with a hint of sweetness. Do not use sherry.
1 cup olive oil or butter
6 cloves crushed or minced garlic
6 tablespoons chopped parsley
6 tablespoons minced onion or shallots
2 tablespoons dried oregano
4 meaty tomatoes such as Romas, with seeds and juicy center removed, finely diced
2 pinches of cayenne or chipotle pepper
Optional. For a little extra sauce and body, add 1/2 cup of milk, cream, or fish stock.
Serve with. A tart white wine. Washington Sauvignon Blanc or Semillon will work especially well because they sometimes have an herbaceous quality that enhances the herbs in the dish while the tartness cuts the oil.
Do this
1) Mix all the ingredients in a large covered non-reactive kettle or wok. Crank up the heat on your grill and put the pot on the grate until it is boiling, add the mussels, stir until the mussels are coated, and steam for 10 minutes, or until the shells have popped open and beg your indecent attentions. Do not overcook. Discard any that have not opened. Salt and adjust seasoning to taste. You can add fresh oregano or thyme at this stage if you wish. Serve with a ladle in soup plates, shells and all.
2) Lou and I like to tear off hunks of bread and make little mussel sandwiches. Dunk the bread in the gray "liquor". Although I love sourdough, I like this recipe with a crusty baguette or country loaf. We often serve mussels with grilled sweet corn on the side.
3) Make sure plenty of napkins are on hand as well as a bowl for shells. When you cannot eat another one, shell the remainder, and set them aside with the remaining liquid as a pasta sauce. To serve, just boil your favorite pasta shape and warm the sauce in a pan. You can thicken it slightly with a bit of cornstarch if you wish, but it is not necessary.
This page revised 7/20/07
