Steamed Mussels in White Wine

It's incredibly easy to make steamed mussels.

The only difficult and time consuming part is: debearding and cleaning the mussels...

Ingredients

6 pounds mussels

1 cup dry white whine

3 shallots, minced

1 clove garlic, minced and then crushed with the side of the knife (optional)

Pinch of chopped fresh or dried thyme (optional)

3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley

4 tablespoons butter (optional)

Preparation

(Makes 4 first-course servings)

1. Brush the mussels under cold running water.

2. Place the scrubbed ones in a bowl full of ice to prevent them from openning.

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I found an awesome YouTube video on "How to debeard, clean and store mussels" by GoodFishBook:

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3. Combine the wine, shallots, garlic, and thyme in a large pot, cover, bring to a simmer over low heat, and simmer for 5 minutes.

Add the mussels all at once, cover the pot, raise the heat to high, bring to a boil, and boil for 2 minutes. Holding the lid in place with a kitchen towel, shake the pot with a rotating motion to redistribute the mussels. Steam for 2 more minutes, and then check to see if all mussels have opened.

4. Use a spider or skimmer to transfer the mussles to warmed bowls. Check the liquid in the bottom of the pot. If it contains grit, carefully pour it into a saucepan, leaving the grit behind. Add the parsley to the steaming liquid, simmer for 1 minute, and whisk in the butter. Pour the liquid over the mussels in the bowls and serve.

Enjoy!

Recipe by James Peterson, from his book "COOKING."