Today I will post a delicious recipe for fresh PEI mussels. But before I do, I want to go over a few rules you need to remember when it comes to preparing mussels. As with any seafood, or meat for that mater, you need to ensure proper care is taken to clean, store and prepare them correctly, or you might be in for a nasty bout of sick!
Here are the hard and fast rules when it comes to mussels:
1. Make sure they are coming from a good source where they have been stored in cool conditions out of heat. Fresh mussels should smell like the sea, never fishy.
2. Once you get them home, store in your refrigerator, in a ventilated bowl, with a damp cloth over top.
3. To clean your mussels, scrub each one gently under running water, and set aside until ready to prepare.
4. You want your mussels to be live when cooked (barbaric, I know) so make sure that you discard any that don’t close up during washing/cleaning. Same goes after cooking (any that don’t open then, discard)
5. If your mussels are bearded, remove the beard by pulling gently along the opening to the mussel.
6. Now you’re ready to prepare your mussels for cooking!
Mussels in Tomato Broth
20-30 fresh mussels, washed and de-bearded
2 TBSP butter
1 fresh ripe tomato, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup fresh parsley
1/2 sweet onion, finely diced
1/4 cup cream (optional)
Heat the butter in a large wok or skillet. Once bubbling, add diced tomato, garlic, parsley and onion and cook slightly. Next, add the mussels, and immediately cover the pan with a tight lid. The liquid in the mussels will escape and allow them to steam in their juice. In about 2-3 minutes, check on the mussels to ensure they are open, and give them a quick stir. Add a little cream (if using) and again, stir and re-cover for about another 2 minutes. Any mussels that have not opened should not be eaten, so discard if there are any.
Hi there!
My name is Lindsay Mulligan and I am the Marketing Coordinator of the Mussel Industry Council of NA. I came across this delicious recipe and I was wondering if we would be able to use it on the recipe portion of our website? We will source each recipe that we will include online, along with the photo, and wanted to write to see if you would allow us to do so. Our website is http://www.discovermussels.com – feel free to check out the website and let me know if you would like to have your recipe and photo showcased. If so, please inform me on the photographer and source of the recipe so that proper credit can be provided.
Looks yum!! 🙂
Hope to hear from you
Lindsay
lindsay@discovermussels.com
sure takes alot of muscle to make mussles!! HEHEHE
Thanks very much for that! My mother recently harvested a garden full of tomatoes before the winter really set in, and I find myself the owner of two or five buckets worth! Of course I couldnt eat them all, but I did find a website full of loads more tomato recipes here. A website dedicated the topic!! Crazy what you can find on the internetz these days!!
Ha ha you make me laught.
Can you sub canned diced tomatoes and their juice?
Most definitely! :o)