White Wine and Lemon Steamed Mussels

Preamble

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I had been eyeing up the mussels at our local poissonerie for quite some time and the other day I decided to finally try and cook them.

It turns out that steamed Mussels are relatively easy to make and they turned out really good, so I decided to share my recipe with you guys here on Hive. I hope you enjoy!

Read First to avoid Killing your Mussels

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If you're not familiar with cooking Mussels then something to keep in mind is that they are actually alive when you buy them.

They are also highly perishable, so you have to be a bit careful with them in order to preserve their integrity. Here are a few tips to help avoid killing your Mussels.

• Firstly, its best to cook them the day you buy them.

• If they are in a plastic bag then open the bag to stop them from suffocating.

• Store them in the fridge in a colander before cooking.

• Do not soak or store them in water because they can drown. This happens if there is no enough oxygen in the water.

• Handle them as little as possible to avoid them going into shock. Clean and de-beard them right before cooking.

• Toss away any dead Mussels before cooking them. This is any with broken or open shells. If a shell is open you can test to see if it's alive by tapping the shell with a knife. It should close after being tapped.

Ingredients

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The exact quantities of ingredients will depend on how many mussels you cook but the ratios don't really matter a whole lot for this recipe. I basically just followed my instincts and eyeball poured the liquids. I cooked approx. 1kg of Mussels and you want just enough broth to steam them when cooking, without submerging them in the liquid. So about 3-4cm in your pot.

• 1kg Mussels
• 1 Carrots
• 1 Celery
• 1 Shallots
• 1 Onion
• Lemon zest
• 2-3 Garlic cloves
• White wine - dry (2-3 cups maybe)
• Cream (1-3 tablespoons)
• Butter
• Dijon Mustard
• Bay leaf
• Crusty bread

Directions

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Chop your vegetables (carrots, celery, onions, and garlic) in large chunks and throw them into a large steaming pot with a tsp of butter and the bay leaves. Give them a quick sauté.

The vegetables aren't necessary for this recipe but I like to eat vegetables with every meal and I thought that they would add some flavor to the broth so I went ahead with it. I left the garlic in large chunks.

Add about 2-3 cups the white wine. Enough to cover the vegetables. Let it simmer for about 10 minutes or so to burn off the alcohol and incorporate the flavor of the vegetables. You could substitute chicken broth or combine the two as well.

While the broth is simmering on low, begin prepping the mussels. Remove any that are dead and wash the live ones under cold water to remove sand and any barnacles attached to the shell. Also de-beard the Mussels by pulling the strings towards the back of shell - basically cutting them with the shell itself.

Add the shallots (finer chop) and the zest of a Lemmon to the broth along with approximately 1 teaspoon of dijon Mustard. I only used the lemon zest and not the juice. I wanted to add a lot of flavor without curdling the cream from the acid.

Add a few tablespoons of cream and some salt and pepper to taste. You can add the cream to your taste preference here. I wanted the broth to be buttery more so than creamy, so I added only about 2 tablespoons. I added a little bit of extra butter as well.

Toast bread in the oven and rub garlic on it when finished for extra flavor. Do this at any point in the cooking process.

Once the Mussels are prepped add them to the broth. You want to steam the Mussels and not boil them so you don't want them to be submerged in the liquid. You want maybe one layer to be submerged at most. I found that the vegetables helped keep the Mussels above the liquid too.

Put a lid on the pot and turn up the heat. You can reduce the heat once you get a good steam going.

Steam the Mussels for 6 - 10 minutes or until all of the Mussels open. Toss any that remained closed, they are dead.

Serve in a large bowl with the toasted garlic bread. Enjoy!

I personally really liked the chunks of vegetables in the broth. They absorbed some of the liquid and I thought that they had a lot of flavor.

All done.

Tips, Tricks and Tools

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I believe that most kitchen gadgets and tools are unnecessary when cooking. I think that most techniques can be achieved with a simple knife. But there are some tools that I use quite often in the kitchen that I believe are quite handy. As such, I thought that it might be interesting or helpful if I shared some of the ones I use when cooking, along with any tips or tricks that I know of that might be of assistance. I'm going to do this at the end of all my cooking posts, but don't worry, I'm not going to try and sell you anything.

Maybe you can share some of your tips, trick and tools in the comments. Feel free!

A Lemon zester. I use this tool all the time and find it super handy not only for zesting citrus but also for grating parmasan cheese, ginger, garlic and nutmeg among other things.

A mortar and pestle. This is something that I surprisingly use almost everyday. I use it to grind up peppercorns and other spices like coriander, fennel, cloves, cumin seeds and more. I also use it to smash nuts like almonds, cashews and hazelnuts. Fresh whole spices tend to have a lot more flavor and aroma than pre-ground, so I like to grind my own spices. For instance, fresh peppercorns have a unique floral flavor and aroma that you don't really get when you use a Peppermill. I also like being able to control how course I want the spices so the mortar and pestle works great for that.

Well that's it for now. I hope you enjoyed the recipe. Again, feel free to share your tips and tricks and tools in the comments. Thanks for stopping by.