Thread: Mussels Fra Diavlo

I remember when mussels (in New England) sold for $.49/lb. Somehow, somewhere, someone told someone else that if prepared properly, mussels are really good eating. Now if you can get them for less than $2.00'lb you're doin' good. There are many ways to prepare them. Today I'm going to share with you a pasta sauce that's easy, quick and dangerously addictive.

Scrub and de-beard 2lbs of fresh live mussels. In the north Atlantic mussels are black. New Zealanders get much larger much prettier green mussels. As different as they look, they all taste about the same. Farm raised mussels are much cleaner and easier to prepare.

This one is pushin' up daisies. It is an ex-mussel. It has joined the choir eternal. It has ceased to exist. It is no more. I cremated it in the wood stove. The rest of these babies get steamed:

I used a left over half bottle of Beaujolais Nouveau for steaming but Marsala or sherry work very well too.

Here we have the clean, live mussels, 6 cloves of garlic, much fresh cracked black pepper and vino.

Cook over high heat until they are open. Then separate them from their shells.

Notice how some are white and some are yellow? The yellow ones are male. The white ones are little girl mussels.

Strain and save the liquid (called liquor) from the pot with the now liberated mussels. This is the time being the cook pays off big time. We get to pick.

Smash and chop another six cloves of garlic.

A good size yellow onion chopped and sweet butter with the garlic

In a large saute pan with olive oil, fresh cracked black pepper and crushed red pepper flakes. I want to take a moment here to share a very important tip which you may already be hip to. When cooking almost anything from sauces to soups to desserts, add your dry ingredients as soon as possible. The fresh ingredients go in at the very end.

Rule Number One: I love San Marzano tomatoes!
Rule Number Two: I love San Marzano Tomatoes!

Tomatoes and mussel liquor go into the saute pan. Cook over high heat until it is reduced by about one third its original volume.

This is a good time to practice your double edge chopping method. It is fast and fun, especially if you have some latin jazz blastin' on the stereo.

I have to end here because we are only allowed seven pictures. Don't go away!

We'll have to give it a try some time. Jr and I love Mussels, CarrieM is allergic to all shell 'fish'.

What time is dinner?

Put your finely, noisily chopped flat parsely (always use flat or "Italian" parsely that curly stuff is no bien.)and your mussels into the sauce and remove from heat.

Last ingredient! The zest of one large lemon. If you don't have a Microplane yet, get one. There is no better tool for zesting a lemon or grating nutmeg.

This sauce likes linguine or fettucini. Served fresh it is bright and zesty but allow the flavors to marry overnight and it might be even better.

very cool... thanks for sharing

Originally Posted by richmondesi

very cool... thanks for sharing

I wish he had shared it with me.

Looks flippin' delicious. Add some nice bread on the side to soak up all that sauce and you're set!

This looks very similiar to a dish my wife has made before Icedog, except she usually spices it up a bit for me.

Looks delicious!

Originally Posted by Slartibartfast

This looks very similiar to a dish my wife has made before Icedog, except she usually spices it up a bit for me.

Looks delicious!

Oh this one has a nice bite to it from the blend of crushed red and black peppers.

Looks great. Hey, when do you add the mussels back with the sauce?