I made mussels the other night for the first time ever. I was nervous. Mussels are like lobsters for beginners. I was so nervous, in fact, that I swore to Hub that I was going to faithfully follow the recipe, measuring and timing. I tried to have all my supplies at the ready. I made Hub clean the mussels themselves, and then they started moving, opening and closing their snapping shells. (O.K. so they weren't really snapping.) I do wish I had taken pictures.
This was my method (recipe promptly out the window), and it was easy, so there was no need to be nervous.
I put a couple tablespoons of olive oil with a couple tablespoons of butter and let it warm on medium until it stopped foaming and browned slightly. I dropped in three cloves of sliced (not minced, how cloddish) garlic, a pinch of red pepper flakes, and about a teaspoon of fennel seeds and let them all stew and soften in the fat for about a minute. Then a poured about a cup (maybe more) of white wine (I like my Chardonay like I like my men. Oaky. Wait, that doesn't make sense. Unless I meant from Oklahoma... which I didn't.)
Where was I? I let the broth reduce awhile, and then I apologized to the little guys and... dropped them all in that big steaming pot and heartlessly clamped the lid down with a clang. After the screaming subsided (just kidding), after about seven minutes, we pulled them off the heat, finished cooking the linguine, and served it all up--TA DA!--with a generous ladle of the broth and a side of whole wheat baguette. Easy. I felt very Julie and Julia.
P.S. Just so I'm clear, I want you to know that I steal all my pictures. I steal them from everywhere. I don't steal from anyone's Flickr account or anything like that, but I mean, you've got to be noticing that I'm not citing. I just wanted to confess and get it out there.
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