15-Minute Garlic-Wine Steamed Mussels

By Sprig Originals ✓ · cooked up in Sprig

Two pounds of mussels, a splash of white wine, garlic, and a handful of crushed tomatoes turn into a trattoria-style appetizer in the time it takes to toast bread. The mussels release their own salty liquor as they open, building a broth that's far richer than the ingredient list suggests — and the whole thing costs a fraction of the $17 you'd pay for it out.

Ingredients

• 2 lb live mussels, preferably farmed rope-grown

• 3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• 6 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
• 1 small shallot, finely chopped
• 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
• 3/4 cup dry white wine such as Pinot Grigio
• 3/4 cup canned crushed tomatoes
• 2 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1/3 cup flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
• kosher salt and black pepper, to taste

• 1 loaf crusty Italian bread or baguette, thickly sliced
• 1 tbsp olive oil, for brushing bread
• 1 lemon, cut into wedges

Instructions

1. Tip the mussels into a colander and rinse under cold running water, rubbing off any grit with your hands. Pull away any stringy beards by tugging them toward the hinge end of the shell. Discard any mussel with a cracked shell, and tap any wide-open ones firmly against the counter — if they don't close within about 30 seconds, throw them out. Leave the cleaned mussels in the colander in the sink; do not soak them in standing water.
2. Brush the bread slices lightly with olive oil and toast them in a 400°F oven or in a dry skillet over medium heat for 2 to 3 minutes per side, until crisp at the edges but still chewy inside. Set aside.
3. Heat the 3 tablespoons olive oil in a large pot or deep skillet with a tight-fitting lid over medium heat. Add the sliced garlic, shallot, and red pepper flakes and cook, stirring often, for 2 minutes — the garlic should turn pale gold and fragrant, never brown. Lower the heat if it starts to color fast.
4. Pour in the white wine, raise the heat to high, and boil hard for 2 minutes to cook off the raw alcohol. Stir in the crushed tomatoes and bring back to a rolling boil.
5. Add all the mussels at once, give one quick stir, and clamp on the lid. Steam over high heat for 5 minutes without lifting the lid, then shake the pot once by the handles to redistribute.
6. Uncover: most shells should be gaping open. If more than a few are still shut, cover and steam 2 minutes more (7 minutes total is nearly always enough). Using tongs, remove and discard any mussel that remains firmly closed at that point.
7. Turn off the heat. Add the butter and swirl the pot until it melts into the broth, then stir in the parsley and a few grinds of black pepper. Taste the broth — mussels are salty, so add salt only if it needs it.
8. Divide the mussels among four warm bowls, spoon the broth over the top, and serve immediately with the toasted bread and lemon wedges. Put out an empty bowl for shells.

Chef's tips

Nutrition (per serving, estimated)

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