Mussels for One

I am the only one in my household who likes shellfish. This does not mean I can’t have it. It just means that when I need to come with food just for me, I take the opportunity to make something special that I am going to love. In Nova Scotia, mussels are cheap! I bought these mussels for less than $2 and I already had the leeks, garlic and wine to go with them so this Mussels for One dish literally cost me just over a buck to make!

I kind of followed Food Network star Tyler Florence’s mussels recipe. The recipe calls for many more mussels so I broke down the recipe a little and should have made the sauce with less wine but hey, live and learn right?

You need to scrub mussels before cooking them and you need to remove this stringy part called the beard. If you are going to keep mussels in your fridge for a while, make sure to cut a hole in the bag to keep them alive. Also, if the mussels are open before cooking, tap them on the counter and if they close, you can cook them but if not, let them go. If they remain closed after cooking, also let them go.

This recipe called for leeks but you know, I think shallots taste better so I won’t be using leeks again and as I said, less wine next time too! You want to get the liquid hot though, really hot so when you add the mussels:

There is enough heat and steam to get those mussels to pop open after you put on the lid. You cook them 5-10 minutes until they open up and release their liquid and wow, yummy! I added cream to the sauce and sopped it all up with homemade bread with roasted garlic butter on it. Delicious!

Not bad for less than two bucks!