White Wine Steamed Mussels

I really like seafood. Especially shellfish such as mussels, clams, oysters… Living in California means that these tasty ocean treats are freshly available most times throughout the year.

This recipe is really delicious and could be used with mussels or clams. You can even cook half mussels half clams!

It pairs great with simple white wine pasta or something a little more complicated like risotto limone (lemon risotto). Or just by itself with a glass of white wine or a bottle of cold beer! Now that the new season of House Of Cards is out, it’s perfect for Netflix marathon, don’t you agree? 

It’s super easy to do and needs about 10 minutes to cook!

Ingredients for white wine steamed mussels/clams:

– 2 pound mussels/clams

– 2 cups white wine

– 1/3 cup minced garlic

– 1/3 chopped onions

– 1 tbsp minced ginger

– 1/2 cup roughly chopped parsley or coriander (they both work, pick what you like. I usually prefer parsley)

– Salt & pepper to taste

– 1 tsp white pepper

– 2 tbsp minced jalapeno (or serano)

– 1/4 cup butter

– Half lemon juice

-Coarse salt (for cleaning the mussels)

If the mussels aren’t clean, rinse them a few times with water. Then create a salted water bath by adding about 1 cup of coarse salt to 4 cups of water. You are trying to mimic the ocean salt water.

Leave the mussels in the salt water for at least 2 hrs so they can spit out all the sand and dirt. Rinse them again a few times with cold water before cooking to clean them properly. Throw away all the open mussels, which usually means they are dead.

In a 5-quart saute pan, melt the butter on medium high heat, then drop the garlic, onions, ginger and jalapenos. Leave for 2 minutes or until the onions become transparent.

Add the white wine, add let it boil for 2 minutes. Then add about 1/2 cup of water.

Add the mussels (or clams), and coat them well with the liquid. Cover the pan and cook them until all the shells are wide open.

Once all the shells are open add the parsley or coriander then the lemon juice and cook for another minute or so.

It’s preferable to leave the mussels in the same sauce pan for serving so you don’t loose the all that delicious liquid.

  

PS: Bread tastes so good with that sauce. Like really good!! So just cut a loaf of bread (I suggest sourdough) and dunk the pieces in the liquid for some heavenly flavor.

Keep an eye on the upcoming post coming up real soon on the blog. It is gonna be a very exciting one but I won’t GIVE it AWAY *wink, wink*!