Yankee Mussels

A recipe of steamed mussels for a yankee father.

This meal is completely inspired and dedicated to my dad, who, loves, loves, loves, steamed mussels. I first came up with this recipe a couple years ago when we were spending some time together at Popham Beach. After my family had eaten all the mussels, soaked all the crunchy, golden bread into the broth, my father then took a spoon and started slurping down the remaining broth, as if it was soup. The flavors of the onions, tomatoes, dill, and garlic meld together to make a deeply rich broth. Adding the remaining ingredients of honey, lemon, parsley and white wine adds the additional dimensions that always make this appetizer OR meal a guaranteed family pleaser.

6 people Appetizer
4 people Dinner
 
What you'll need:
 
2 sticks butter- unsalted
1/8 cup olive oil
4 small onions, chopped
6 large garlic clove, minced
2 cups tomatoes, chopped
1 large bunch parsley, chopped
1 bunch dill, chopped
2 lemons
4 lbs mussels
1 tsp honey
½ cup white wine
Salt and pepper
 
1 baguette
 

What to do:
 
In a large cooking pot, turn the heat on medium and add the oil, butter, and onions. Add 2 generous pinches of salt.  Stir well. After 2 minutes, add the garlic. Cook these items together, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes, until the onions sweat and become aromatic.
 
Turn the heat to medium- high and add the tomatoes, honey, white wine and 2 cups water. Bring to a soft boil, and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring every minute or so. Slice the lemon in half and squeeze the juice of the whole lemon into the pot. Boil for another 2 minutes.
 
While the tomato/ onion mixture is boiling, remove the mussels from the refrigerator, pour into a large colander and wash thoroughly with cold water. Set aside to drain.
 
Also while the broth is boiling, pre-heat the oven to 350. Slice the baguette in half and place in the oven face up. Bake for 10-15, or until the bread is golden brown.  Remove from the oven and slice into large pieces, place into a bowl, cover with a clean cloth and set aside.
 
Once the lemon has been added boiled for about 2 minutes, add ¾ of the chopped dill and ¾ of the chopped parsley. Add 1 tsp of salt and 1 tsp of ground pepper.



At this point the mussels are ready to be added. Whether you pour the mussels from the colander, or you add them by hand, be mindful of splashing. Once all the mussels are in the pot, fold and stir the mussels into the tomato bath. Cover with a lid and cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring every minute, to recoat the mussels with the tomato mixture.  Check to see if the mussels are opened, if they are not ALL opened, let the muscles cook for about another minute.



Remove the pot from the heat and CAREFULLY pour into a X-large bowl.  Squeeze the remaining lemon over the steamed muscles. Sprinkle the remaining parsley and dill over the muscles, too.






Side note: Some mussels will not open no matter how long you cook them- remove those mussels from the pot and discard.

Grab some bowls, forks and spoons and head to the table. Set out the mussels and bread ladle some broth into each bowl, with a large spoonful of mussels. Break bread, and dive in!





Down East will be featuring contributors from all walks of Maine Life on DE Daily. Kathryn and Dash, the women behind the Yankee Crafty B*tch blog [1], will be bringing you the best in the world of crafts, food, sewing and gardens — all on the resourceful Yankee budget. So kick back, check out their posts, and get your craft on.