A super delicacy, seafood, extremely tasty if cooked well - mussels. Frankly, I have never been disappointed with a mussel dish. Surprisingly, the most delicious mussel dishes are prepared in small restaurants located near the sea.
What can I say, mussels are delicious. Delicate taste, a lot of microelements (unfortunately not always useful), a lot of protein. Scientists prove the usefulness of mussels, in addition, many consider mussels almost Viagra and eat them.
In the modern world, mussels are not collected wild from the sea, but are cultivated. Many have probably heard the concept of a “mussel jar”. There, far out in the sea, where the water is clear and there is no suspended sand, ropes on which mussels live are lowered into the water column. They live, filter water and grow. And then they are removed like apples from trees.
We ate all kinds of mussels, prepared in different ways. And mussels fried in batter, and risotto with mussels, and pizza with mussels, and pasta with mussels - a variety of options. And what delicious soups with mussels!!! It is also very tasty to cook mussels by stewing them in sauce. Sauces in general are an interesting thing, I wouldn’t even be wrong if I say that half of the main courses are prepared with sauces. Cooked in sauce or served with sauce.
Let's cook mussels with sauce and vegetables. Moreover, this dish is completely independent, or can become an excellent complex sauce for pasta or rice. However, the potatoes will also be “happy.” By the way, I also recommend using cream - I advise everyone to cook it, it’s tasty and unusual.
Mussels in sauce. Step by step recipe
Ingredients (for 2 servings)
- Mussels 300 gr
- Onion 1 piece
- Carrot 1 piece
- Red bell pepper 2 pcs
- Garlic 1-2 cloves
- Tomato (paste) 1 tbsp. l.
- Olive oil 3 tbsp. l.
- Salt, pepper, nutmeg Spices
- It is better to buy mussels, peeled - meat, and frozen, and not shells, which you still have to tinker with, and it is not a fact that they will be good. And another tip: buy mussel meat in the form of a loose, deep-frozen product, and not in vacuum plastic packaging. Packaging, unfortunately, is a “thing in itself”. It is problematic to guess for sure in advance what will be there.
- Frozen mussel meat does not need to be thawed first.
Ingredients: mussels, onion, carrot, red bell pepper, tomato, garlic, olive oil, spices
- Peel the onions and carrots and finely chop them with a knife. By the way, there’s no need to get too small. Cut approximately as much as, or a little smaller.
- Heat 3 tbsp in a frying pan. l. olive oil. Let it heat until white smoke appears and a noticeable pleasant smell appears. Fry chopped onions and carrots in oil until soft.
- Peel the red sweet pepper from the stalks, seeds and cut into small pieces. Add pepper to onions and carrots, add chopped garlic, salt.
- Simmer over low heat, covered, for 10-12 minutes - without (!) adding water. Vegetables will provide sufficient moisture when cooked.
- Add ground nutmeg -1-2 pinches and pepper.
- Add tomato. There are options here. Of course, it is best to add the pulp of fresh tomatoes. If it's season. Or canned tomato pulp. In practice, it turns out that it’s not the season and there are no canned tomatoes. Therefore, either: add 1 glass of good tomato juice, or: 1 full spoon of tomato paste diluted in boiled water. Considering that almost all tomato juice is “reconstituted”, from the same tomato paste, this is the same thing. You can’t spoil mussels with vegetables with tomato!
Add tomato: tomatoes, juice or tomato paste
- Simmer everything covered for 15 minutes.
- Add frozen mussels, stir and bring mussels in sauce to a boil.
Place mussels in tomato sauce
- Simmer the mussels in the sauce under the lid for 5 minutes, then remove the lid and let the excess liquid boil away.
- Mussels in sauce with vegetables are ready.
Simmer the mussels in the sauce until done
- You can start having breakfast right away, simply - mussels in sauce with fresh bread. I recommend sprinkling with chopped parsley.
Ready-made mussels.
If you are lucky enough to see fresh mussels in the fish department of your favorite supermarket, and at the same time the price for them pleases you with its affordability, do not pass it by! These shiny black seashells contain shellfish that, when well cooked, can become an original aperitif, or even a first course for your family and guests.
A little about the benefits of mussels and what they are good for
- they contain a lot of B vitamins and minerals;
- they are calorie-free, but nutritious;
- they are easy to digest;
- they contain a lot of iron.
How do you know how fresh the mussels are and whether they are spoiled?
- Before purchasing mussels, take a good look at them. If the shells are split or cracked, then it is better not to buy such mussels. Such defects may indicate that the mussels are dead and dangerous to eat.
- Carefully examine the shell openings of the mussels you buy. If there are open ones among them, then such mussels are not suitable for eating.
If you want mussels, which you tried once while at some Mediterranean resort, but they don’t sell fresh seafood nearby, then you can be content with frozen mussels, which after defrosting must also be carefully examined before cooking.
Ingredients:
- 500 g mussels
- 1 medium sized onion
- 1 clove of garlic
- 1 bay leaf
- red bell pepper
- olive oil
Some secrets:
- To prevent fine sand, which is often carried by mussel shells, from getting into the dish, you should start preparing them long before lunch and keep them in a bowl of cold water for 3-4 hours, changing the water a couple of times.
- Fresh mussels must be cooked within 24 hours of purchasing them.
Recipe for boiled mussels with red pepper
- Scrape the mussel shells with a knife to remove any possible dirt.
- Wash the mussels in cold water.
- Place the mussels in the pan without adding water. Throw in the bay leaf and, placing the pan over medium heat, cook the mussels in it until the shells open, about 10-15 minutes.
- Add water to the pan and cook the mussels some more 5-7 minutes, and then remove the mussels from the water, and pour the water itself into some container - you will need it later.
- Remove the top shell of each mussel. After this, put the cleaned mussels back into the pan.
- In a frying pan with a little olive oil, gild the chopped onion and garlic, lightly salting them while frying.
- When the onions and garlic are sufficiently golden, add 1 tablespoon of flour and 1 teaspoon of red pepper. Mix everything well and transfer to the pan with mussels.
- Add the water remaining after boiling the mussels to the pan, after straining it through a strainer or cheesecloth.
- Boil the mussels some more 5 minutes and then taste the water. If it contains too much sea salt, replace some of the water in the pan with water without salt.
After cooking, mussels should be eaten hot, and the best accompaniment for them is dry white wine. Usually mussels are eaten directly with your hands and only in some cases may you need the help of a fork. To prevent guests from running to the kitchen or bathroom to wash their hands and asking you for dozens of napkins, place a large bowl of water on the dining table. Let everyone sitting at the table be able to rinse their hands in it if they wish, and then simply wipe them with a napkin.
A juicy and aromatic salad with mussels, red onions and bell peppers will appeal to all seafood lovers. It turns out not only tasty, but also colorful in appearance. The dish can be created in literally 10 minutes if you purchase a jar of “Mussels in Oil” in a store or supermarket. If there is no such preparation, then purchase fresh frozen mussels and fry them in vegetable oil for about 3-5 minutes without defrosting with a few pinches of salt and ground black pepper, and then cool, since hot ingredients are not added to the salad. Choose red or yellow bell peppers to make the cuts in the salad look more colorful.
Ingredients
- 100 g mussels in oil
- 1 bunch of lettuce
- 0.5 pcs. red onion
- 1 bell pepper
- salt to taste
- 2-3 sprigs of parsley
Preparation
1. Rinse the bell pepper in water, cut off the cap and clean out the seeds, and then rinse again. Cut into small cubes and pour into a salad bowl. If bell peppers are not available, you can use fresh cucumbers instead. If the cucumbers are late varieties, then peel them and remove the seeds, leaving only the tender pulp, which we cut into small cubes.
2. Peel the red onion, cut it in half and rinse one half in water. Also cut into small cubes and pour into a container.
3. Wash the parsley and chop it. Add to the salad bowl along with the mussels. Fresh parsley can be replaced with any other herb without a strong spicy aroma so that it does not overwhelm the taste of the mussels. Add seafood to the salad bowl along with oil. If desired, you can sprinkle with lemon or orange juice.
4. Place washed green lettuce leaves on a plate and the prepared dish on them. You can tear the lettuce leaves into a container with your hands and mix them with the rest of the ingredients, just don’t forget to add a little salt. Serve the mussel salad with red onions and bell peppers to the table after cooking.
Cut the onions into large cubes or half rings - as you like.
Peel the bell pepper, cut off the “tails” and cut into not quite thin strips. The bell pepper should be yellow in color - it will add brightness to the salad (red will simply mix with other ingredients).
Heat sunflower oil in a frying pan and fry the onion in it (over medium heat).
As soon as the onion begins to turn golden, add the bell pepper and fry for another 2-3 minutes over medium heat. This time is enough for the peppers to lightly brown.
As soon as the pepper becomes soft, add tomato paste to the frying pan, followed by mussels. By the way, about them. If you are not lucky enough to buy fresh seafood, frozen ones are also suitable: just defrost the mussels, rinse well and sprinkle with lemon juice. The only point: frozen mussels may be slightly salted, so don’t oversalt!
Stir the contents of the frying pan, add salt and pepper. Keep on low heat for 5-7 minutes and add the greens with garlic (the greens should be coarsely chopped, and the garlic should be finely chopped). Cover with a lid, reduce heat to low and wait another 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Ready! Serve the salad warm.
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