One of my favorite foods to make at home that requires minimal effort, is extremely affordable and can be somewhat healthy, is steamed mussels. Mussels are overlooked frequently by the home cook and with their typically less than $5/pound price tag and less than 10 minute cooking time, they should be on every table. Looking for a way to make a fancy date night? Mussels. Feeling a little blue and need a pick me up? Mussels. Don’t feel like cooking but can’t afford to go out? Mussels. All you need are a few ingredients, a pot to steam and a glass of white wine. Throw in a side salad and bread. Your night will be complete. Almost. All you need is the music.
How do you feel about soundtracks? Just like mussels, I think they are overlooked frequently by our listening ears. One of my favorite soundtracks of all time is Blade Runner. I really enjoy Blade Runner the movie. However I have a limit to how frequently I can watch it. The soundtrack on the other hand is frequently spinning on my record player. The classical notes and synthesizer sounds plus the way that Vangelis captures melancholy and loneliness, there is little other way to describe it but absolutely beautiful. Somehow, these sounds of dystopia go really well with mussels. Plus those hints of sadness in the music will make your date or partner draw closer to you. I promise.
Vinyl: Blade Runner – Vangelis
White Wine Steamed Mussels
Prep Time – 10 minutes
Cook Time – 5-10 minutes
Total Time – 20 minutes
Serves approx. 2
Ingredients
o 1 tbsp of unsalted butter
o 1 shallot, minced
o 2 garlic cloves, minced
o 2 pounds of mussels, debearded and checked
o 1 cup of white wine
o 2 tbsp of salted butter
o 2 tbsp of chopped parsley
o 1 baguette, sliced
Instruction:
- Place unsalted butter in a large pot on medium heat and warm until melted. Add in shallots and garlic. Sauté for 30 seconds until fragrant.
- Add the debeared mussels and mix, for about 1 minute.
- Add the entire cup of white wine to the pot and cover. Steam mussels for 3-4 minutes until they are all open and begging you to eat their deliciousness. Halfway through, I recommend grabbing the pot, lifting it from the burner with hot pads on your hands and shaking once or twice.
- Remove the mussels from the pot and place into the bowls you will eating out of, leaving the liquid in the pot behind.
- Add the salted butter to the pot and stir to mix until the butter is melted. Add the chopped parsley and stir. Pour the juices from the pan into the bowls on top of your mussels. Stop just before the end so that any grit from the mussels stays behind in the pot.
- Serve with the sliced bread, a tossed green salad and a glass of the white wine you steamed the mussels in!
Notes:
Debeared and checked mussels – what does this mean? Some mussels come debeared, others do not. On some mussels there may be what appears to be a piece of stringy brown seaweed style stuff hanging from the mussel. This is the beard or byssal threads. Pull it out, all the way, like every hipster’s beard you’ve ever wanted to yank on. Also, check every single mussel. If any mussel is gaping open, using your fingers, close it shut. If the mussel is still alive, it will stay shut or close back on its own. If it does not, discard it and do not cook it. It can make you sick. Interestingly, the famed chef Anthony Bourdain says that mussels are one of the few foods he will not eat at restaurants because most chefs or cooks do not have the time to check every single mussel to see if it is dead or alive. I have chosen to follow this same recommendation.
Mussels are amazingly easy to make variations with. Simply substitute any lighter beer instead of the wine and you have beer steamed mussels. A common variation is also chorizo and fennel mussels.
When I cook with a white wine, I do not go all out and spend tons. I also do not go for a two-buck chuck or any really cheap beer. Somewhere middle of the road, $8-10 is usually what I go for. Drier whites like Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Grigio work really well.