First time making mussels- suggestions??

[m4star]

DH's birthday is next Tuesday (8/19) and I'm making him a romantic dinner at home. He really loves mussels and I'd like to make them for him. But I've never cooked them before. Are they difficult? Does anyone have any wisdom, ideas, recipes that they can share?

Thanks

[MinEaston]

This is what I do with them.

First, wash them well. They may be open, but those that are alive will close up when you wash them. Discard any that don't close up. Pull the "beard" out of each mussel.

Heat butter & olive oil in a large pot (large enough to hold all of the mussels). Saute minced garlic and red pepper flakes for about 2 minutes, being careful not to let the garlic burn. Add the mussels and turn them to coat in the butter/garlic. Dump in about a cup of dry white wine and cover the pot. Steam until done (maybe 5 minutes). Serve over linguine with plenty of fresh crusty bread to sop up the juice.

[RebeccaT]

I think the ones you can get at Central Market are already de-bearded. At least the ones I got there a few months ago were.

I love mussels. If you end up making finding a great recipe, please share!

[m4star]

Originally posted by MinEaston
Pull the "beard" out of each mussel.

Umm..sorry to be so ignorant about this- but is that hard to do?? I'm really hoping RebeccaT is right and the ones I can get at Central Market are already done. Shellfish makes me nervous for some odd reason :(

[Canice]

Melinda,
You have absolutely nothing to be nervous about - mussels are the easiest (and cheapest) thing in the world. And I would be surprised if you had to debeard them; I have never once had to and I've been fixing them for years (almost all mussels are commercially farmed now, and debearding is part of their processing.) The following is a recipe I found on the Web that is fairly similar to how I make them; any of these type of sauce will be totally forgiving, so don't worry about following it exactly (this is just to give you an idea of a standard recipe; do you know if he likes them prepared any specific way? Lots of good Thai recipes if he likes that...mmmm....mussels and coconut milk!)



4 pounds mussels
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 shallot, minced
2 garlic cloves, shaved
4 sprigs fresh thyme
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 lemon, juiced
1 cup chicken broth, low-sodium
Pinch red pepper flakes
1 tomato, peeled, seeded and cut in large dice
1/2 cup roughly chopped parsley
2 tablespoons unsalted butter

Directions
Rinse the mussels under cold running water while scrubbing with a vegetable brush. Discard any with broken shells. Heat oil in a 6 to 8-quart stockpot. Saute the shallot, garlic and thyme to create a base flavor. Add the mussels and give them a good toss. Add wine, lemon juice, chicken broth and red pepper flakes; cover the pot and steam over medium-high for 5 minutes until the mussels open. Toss in the tomato, parsley and butter, recover the pot, and steam for another minute to soften. The tomatoes should keep their shape. Serve with plenty of grilled garlic bread to sop up the broth.