Steamed Mussels in White Wine-Garlic Sauce

This is my take on the classic recipe for French steamed mussels as a main course -- a big bowl of mussels bathed in white wine, butter and garlic and served with a great French baguette…yeh bebbe! Buy the best mussels you can find and use a wine that you'd drink yourself - better yet, drink the rest of the same bottle used in the sauce!  As for the butter…it’s got two tablespoons in the whole recipe so borrow some from your neighbor if you don’t want it in the house…it’ll be a good reason to say hello :) Figure on a pound of mussels per person for a main course.

Total Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients (Serves 2)

·         2 lb live mussels

·         2 tbsp unsalted butter

·         1 cup white wine (please don’t use cooking wine)

·         2 shallot, minced

·         4 cloves garlic, minced

Directions

·         Scrub and de-beard the mussels…you don’t want whiskers in your mussels!

·         The shells should be closed. If any shells are open, let it sit for a few minutes, it should close.

·         Heat the butter over medium heat in a large, wide-bottomed pot and saute the shallot and garlic until soft but not browned.

·         Add the white wine, and bring it to a boil. Add the mussels.

·         Cover the pot and let the mussels steam for 4-7 minutes. Most of the mussels should be open after the first couple minutes. You want them all open, but some will do this faster than others.

·         As soon as most of the mussels are open, turn off the heat and cover for about 5 minutes

·         Discard of any mussels that did not open as they are bad, bad mussels! :)

Serve with crusty bread or a classic French baguette, a little candlelight and let the romance begin…enjoy!