| Recipe: |
I've had this recipe from Cook's Illustrated kicking around for years now, waiting to be made some evening when I had mussels and hard cider and fresh baguette: Oven-Steamed Mussels with Hard Cider and Bacon. And when it happened, I immediatelydecided I should make it more like Shrimp Adriatico because of an insanely good bowl of mussels that we had at a place called Vecina. (A Latin-inspired place in Phoenix which was WAY too loud/crowded to be in at the time, but we didn't know that when we made reservations and we had a play to get to so we stayed and risked it. Clearly, other than a new food obsession, we escaped unscathed.) What's below isn't particularly close to any of these, but it IS damn tasty!
4 strips thick bacon, cut in 1/2" pieces
half a good-sized onion, cut in slivers
4-6 cloves garlic, smashed
3/4 c white wine
3 T tomato paste, give or take
2 lbs mussels, fresh or frozen (I hesitantly used pre-cooked, and they turned out great)
1/4 c cream
juice of half a lemon
salt to taste
Nice baguette, sliced thinly, charred if you're feeling fancy (garlic toasted if not) for sopping up the sauce.
(Consult trusted source on mussels if you have fresh ones and are nervous about them.)
Preheat oven to 500° F.
In a large skillet, roasting pan, or Dutch oven that can safely go in the oven, fry bacon until fat renders and it's getting crispy. Add onions & garlic and saute in bacon fat until soft. Add white wine and heat. Stir in tomato paste. Add mussels and arrange. There was some liquid in my bag of (mostly) thawed mussels... I added 1-1.5 cups of that. Cover tightly with aluminum foil or with lid (if it fits pretty tightly - you want to steam the mussels). Bake 18-20 minutes (until most of the mussels have opened, if fresh). Push mussels to side and add cream and lemon juice and whisk to combine. Taste and add salt if needed.
Get a big napkin and tuck in! |
