Mussel Love

Saturday afternoon the kids went to Nana’s to swim for a bit so Mike and I got busy in the kitchen.
We started with shots of vodka (mini Bloody Marys basically) and Oyster shooters.

Take fresh oysters; you can either shuck them yourself and serve on the half shell (yummy! really!) or go the lazy way (far easier) and buy them fresh in the jar from the seafood department of your local store. Give them a rinse, Plop them into a glass douse liberally with lemon juice and add Tabasco or any hot sauce you prefer to taste. Katie (yes, Kate eats them too) and I prefer Tapatio` but Tabasco is really good too! Then eat! Typically you just sort of take it whole and give it a chew (doesn’t take much) and swallow. Some people can’t handle it. But, they are really good.
Next up, Amy’s Drunken Mussels.

2lbs of fresh mussels. Get them fresh and make your seafood dude pick through to ensure that none have opened. Opened = dead and that isn’t good.
Take them home and immediately give them a good rinse and put them in a bowl with ice covering the bottom, unless you plan to cook immediately. As gruesome as it sounds - you don’t want them suffocating.
In a sauce pan pour 1 beer (you can substitute white wine) I was using Wingwalker Amber Ale, but choose your favorite. I’d avoid any domestics. I just don’t think they’d do the seafood justice.
1 beer and 1 stick of butter and the juice of 1/2 lemon, cover your pan and put the flame up to med-high. Get it boiling.
You can rough chop, but I prefer a Cuisinart food processor for the following:
7-8 large cloves of garlic
5 - 6 fresh Serrano peppers. (you could substitute with a chili or a jalapeno, we grow Serrano peppers)
Give them a super chop and dump them into your butter/beer mixture; which should have been boiling at this point.
Reduce heat to medium and dump your mussels in replace lid.
Give the pan a good solid shake every once in a while and when all your mussels are open they are done! Dump them into a large bowl with all their liquid. Top with the other 1/2 of the lemon and fresh chopped parsley. Serve hot with good crusty bread or a nice sourdough.
They make for a great appetizer or served with a salad are a meal all to themselves!
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