Steamed Mussels

Your quest for an awesome Steamed Mussels recipe ends here! Steamed in white wine, garlic, leeks and tomato – the flavours are outstanding!

Ingredients & Amounts

• 4 lb. of freshwater mussels

• 2 tablespoons of butter

• 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil

• 3 leeks, cut lengthwise, rinsed and chopped

• 3 shallots, halved and finely chopped

• 6 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped

• 1 teaspoon of red chili flakes

• 2 cups of puréed tomatoes

• 2 cups of dry white wine

• sprinkle of salt

• juice from 1 lemon

• ¼ cup of fresh parsley, rinsed and finely chopped

Instructions

1. Clean the mussels: Place the mussels into a large stainless steel bowl and fill with water. Let the mussels sit undisturbed for 15 minutes. Rub each mussel between your hands to remove any dirt or silt. Pluck the hairy beard from the shell if the mussel has one. Discard any mussels with cracked shells.

2. Place a Dutch oven or large soup pot on medium-high heat. At temperature, add oil and butter, combining the two until the butter melts and bubbles.

3. Add the shallots, leek and garlic and stir until coated with the butter/oil mix. Sprinkle with chili flakes, cover and cook for three minutes.

4. Stir the vegetables and add one or two more tablespoons of oil if needed. Reduce heat to simmer, cover and cook for 10 minutes or until ingredients are soft, translucent and fragrant.

5. Add the tomato purée and the white wine. Stir, taste and season with salt. Return lid to pot until ingredients come to a boil, about 3-5 minutes.

6. Add the mussels, stirring them into the hot broth mixture. Cover and cook for 5 minutes. Remove the lid and stir the mussels from the bottom to the top so that any unopened mussels fall down into the liquid. Add the lemon juice. Cover and cook for an additional 5 minutes or until the mussels have fully opened.

7. Transfer cooked mussels into soup plates (see note below), sprinkle with parsley and serve.

8. Note: We suggest having three utensils on hand to serve steamed mussels: a slotted spoon to extract only the mussels from the pot, tongs to arrange the mussels in the bowl and a ladle to pour the broth and vegetables over the mussels before you serve.

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