What's cooking challenge - Mussels Marinara

My easiest memory of eating mussels was with my parents at Luigi’s, an Italian Restaurant in Ridgefield Park, New Jersey. The mussels were served on the half shell topped with marinara sauce. Now many, many years later mussels in marinara sauce is still my favorite. Making the sauce from scratch at home is easy and well worth the effort.

You’ll need

2 lbs mussels
1 medium onion minced
3 cloves garlic minced
olive oil
Bunch fresh Italian parsley
Bunch fresh basil
1 can San Marzano style tomatoes
½ cup dry red wine
Salt to taste
Good crusty bread

The sauce

This is a very basic sauce that really highlights the tomato goodness and doesn’t overwhelm the delicious taste of the mussels.

You'll also need to use a skillet large enough to hold all the ingredients including the mussels.

Empty the can of tomatoes into a mixing bowl and break the whole tomatoes in chunks with your fingers. If you prefer it not so chunky you can puree it with your hand blender. Set aside.

Start by sauteing the onion in some olive oil until transparent. Then add the garlic and cook for another 30 seconds

Add the red wine and let it cook down to about half the amount of liquid.

Stir in the tomatoes, bring to a boil, lower the heat to a simmer.

Add the parsley and basil. Continue simmering for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Prep the mussels

Meanwhile, rinse the mussels in cold water. Remove any broken ones and any that won't close when you squeeze them.

Rinse the under cold water and pick off any beards

Remove any broken or dead ones

Broken

Dead one

Add the mussels to the sauce

Continue cooking until all the mussels mussels open and the meat separates from the shell. You may want to raise the heat up a bit.

Plate them up and serve with the crusty bread.

Enjoy!

Stuffed!

This is my entry for #whatscookingchallenge by @jaynie.
Here’s the challenge:

NB: The #whatscookingchallenge is an ONGOING challenge, so you can enter WHENEVER you want and as OFTEN as you want!
1: Use the #whatscookingchallenge tag and tag me @jaynie in your post.
2: Create and publish a post showcasing something that
you have prepared in your kitchen which is either
a) uniquely yours, or b) has been adapted and made your own.
(The more elaborate the post the better, naturally...)
PS. This is NOT limited to "plates of food" - it can be preserves, snacks, anything!
3: Accompany the post with at least 2 photos of whatever it is that you have prepared.
(and in the spirit of avoiding plagiarism, a photo of YOU WITH your dish would be a plus, but is not a requirement)
4: Tag at least 5 (but not limited to) of your foodie friends that you think would like to participate...

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Enjoy!

Roger

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