Spicy Steamed Mussels Recipes

Steps:

• To make the aioli: Place the red pepper on an open flame or grill. Turn to blacken on all sides. When fully charred, remove to a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let pepper cool, until you can handle it comfortably. Using your fingers, remove blackened skin to reveal the red color underneath. (A paper towel will wipe off what you can't remove with your fingers.) Coarsely chop the pepper and place it in the bowl of a food processor. Add the yolks, garlic, vinegar, chili paste, and salt to taste. Puree until the mixture is homogeneous. While the machine is running VERY slowly drizzle in the oil, until incorporated. Check the aioli for texture and flavor. If it's too thick, add a few drops of water to thin it down, or on the flip side if it's too thin add more oil. The desired outcome is a fairly thin aioli. Check the flavor and add more salt or chili paste, if desired. Refrigerate until ready to use.
• To cook the mussels: In a pot, large enough to accommodate all the mussels, generously coat with olive oil. Add the onions and bring to a medium-high heat, stirring frequently. Cook the onions until they are very soft and aromatic but have no color. Add the garlic, thyme and bay leaf and cook for another 2 to3 minutes. Stir to be sure the garlic doesn't burn. Add the mussels and stir to coat with the oil. Add the wine and cover the pot. Steam the mussels for 5 to 6 minutes or until all the shells open. If some shells don't open, cook them for a little longer. Sometimes the freshest mussels are the most stubborn to open. Remove the mussels that don't open after longer cooking. When in doubt, throw out.
• While the mussels are steaming, grill or toast the slices of bread.
• Serve the mussels in individual bowls with lots of the juice from the bottom of the pot. Generously drizzle each bowl with the aioli. Garnish with toast. (You may want to have more toasted bread on hand to sop up the delicious liquid!)
• *RAW EGG WARNING
• Food Network Kitchens suggest caution in consuming raw and lightly-cooked eggs due to the slight risk of Salmonella or other food-borne illness. To reduce this risk, we recommend you use only fresh, properly-refrigerated, clean, grade A or AA eggs with intact shells, and avoid contact between the yolks or whites and the shell.

Steps:

• Brush 1 teaspoon oil onto each slice of bread. Toast until brown and crisp. Rub both sides (one side if using baguette) with whole garlic. Cut bread in half on the diagonal. Heat remaining 2 tablespoon oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook sliced garlic, scallions and salt, stirring occasionally, until scallions and garlic color slightly, about 5 minutes. Add mussels, tomato puree, wine and pepper flakes. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium, cover and cook until mussels open, 1 to 2 minutes. (Discard any mussels that don't open.) Uncover pan and add herbs; toss to combine. Divide mussels evenly among 4 bowls and spoon broth over them. Serve each with toast.

Steps:

• Heat the olive oil in a pan over medium heat. Add the garlic and red pepper, and saute until fragrant, stirring, about 30 seconds. Add the white wine and tomato sauce, increase the heat to high, cover and bring to a boil.
• Add the mussels and replace the lid. Cook over high heat 3 minutes. Remove the lid and stir once gently. Continue to cook until the mussels are completely open and firmly cooked, about 4 minutes more.
• Remove the pot from the heat and transfer the mussels gently from the pot to a large bowl with a Chinese wire mesh skimmer. Return the pot to the heat and increase the heat to high. Boil for a minute or 2, until the sauce is thick enough to coat a spoon. Pour the sauce over the mussels and serve immediately.
• Place the canned tomatoes in a large bowl and place your (clean) hands in the bowl and crush the tomatoes so they breakup into a range of small pieces.
• In a 5-quart Dutch oven heat the olive oil over medium heat until it is fragrant, but before it smokes, about 40 seconds. Add the bay leaves and stir them in the oil until they begin to brown, about 10 seconds. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute until it starts to turn golden brown, then add the onions, carrots, and oregano. Cook the vegetables until they are very brown, about 15 to 20 minutes. Stir occasionally, just enough to prevent them from scorching.
• Add the crushed tomatoes with their juice, the tomato paste, salt and pepper, and 1 1/2 cups of water, (white wine or clam juice can be added depending on the intended use) and bring to a boil. Lower the heat, and simmer, partially covered until the sauce level has reduced by 2 or 3 inches and the sauce is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Cook the sauce for about 1 hour, stirring occasionally so it doesn't stick.
• Remove from heat, cool down in the pot, then when at room temperature, transfer to a sealed plastic container and refrigerate until ready to use.
• This sauce will keep 10 days in a well-sealed container in the refrigerator.
• Using my recipe for basic Red Sauce, you can make a quick and spicy "fra diavolo" sauce that is delicious drizzled over grilled squid and other seafood. For equipment you will need a 3-quart saucepan and a wooden spoon.
• Heat the olive oil in a 3-quart saucepan slightly over medium heat and saute the garlic and crushed red pepper until the garlic is fragrant and beginning to brown, about 40 seconds.
• Add the Red Sauce, clam juice, and salt, to taste, and simmer, stirring occasionally over medium-low heat, until the sauce returns to the thickness and quantity of the Red Sauce, about 15 minutes.

Steps:

• Place 4 oregano sprigs, 4 cilantro sprigs and 1 halved jalapeno on a sheet of foil; top with 1 pound cleaned mussels. Scatter 4 tablespoons cut-up butter and 3 sliced garlic cloves over the mussels and drizzle with the juice of 2 limes (add the squeezed limes to the pack as well). Fold up the foil, leaving room for the mussels to open. Grill over high heat until the mussels open, 4 to 5 minutes.

Steps:

• Pick through the washed mussels making sure that they are all tightly closed and all of the beards have been removed.
• Heat a large Dutch oven over medium heat and add the vegetable oil. When the oil is hot, add the onions, garlic, and ginger and saute until translucent but not brown, about 5 minutes. Add the chiles, curry powder, and coriander and cook for 2 more minutes. Add the wine and the water and bring to a boil.
• Once the mixture is boiling, add the mussels and cover. Steam the mussels for about 6 to 8 minutes, stirring occasionally, until they have all opened.
• Remove the mussels from the heat and discard any that are not open. Place the mussels in a large serving platter, cover to keep warm. Return the pan to the heat, add the cream, season with pepper, to taste, and bring to a simmer. Add the cilantro, scallions, lime zest and juice. Pour the liquid over the top of the mussels.
• Preheat a grill pan to medium-high heat. Drizzle the bread with olive oil and grill 1 minute per side. Serve with the steamed mussels.

Steps:

• Heat broiler. Put olive oil in a large heavy-bottomed soup pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the minced garlic and red pepper and let sizzle for 30 seconds without browning. Add the mussels, stir to coat and increase heat to high. Add the wine or water, and put on lid. After 2 minutes, give the mussels a stir, then replace lid and continue cooking until all mussels have opened, 6 to 8 minutes.
• Paint cut sides of the baguette pieces with oil and place cut side up under broiler to toast. Rub toasts with the remaining garlic cloves.
• Stir the chopped parsley into the mussels, then ladle mussels and broth into bowls. Serve with the garlic toasts.

Steps:

• Scrub mussels well and remove beards. Squeeze enough juice from limes to measure 1/3 cup. In an 8-quart kettle boil lime juice, coconut milk, wine, curry paste, garlic, fish sauce, and sugar over high heat, stirring, 2 minutes. Add mussels, tossing to combine. Cook mussels, covered, stirring occasionally, until opened, about 5 to 8 minutes. (Discard any unopened mussels.) Chop cilantro and toss with mussels.
• Serve mussels with lime wedges.

Steps:

• Clean the mussels. Inspect each one carefully and discard any that have opened (if some are partly open, tap them with your finger and if they close back up they are O.K.) or have cracked shells. Place in a large bowl, fill the bowl with cold water and rinse several times, swishing the mussels around in the water, pouring out the water and refilling. Clean the shells, if necessary, with a brush or the end of one of the mussels, and pull out the beards - the hairy attachments emerging from the shells. Do not do this until just before cooking, or the mussels will die and spoil.
• Heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a large Dutch oven, soup pot or lidded frying pan and add the hazelnuts and almonds. Cook, stirring, until the nuts are golden brown and smell toasty, and add half the garlic. Cook, stirring, until the garlic is fragrant, taking care not to let it color and burn, about 30 to 60 seconds. Remove from the heat and transfer to a mortar and pestle or a mini food processor. Allow to cool, then mash or pulse until the mixture is just short of pasty; the nuts should retain some finely chopped texture. Work in 1 tablespoon of the parsley and set aside.
• Heat the remaining tablespoon of olive oil over medium heat and add the onion. Cook, stirring often, until it is tender and translucent, about 5 minutes. Add a generous pinch of salt, the remaining garlic and the chili and cook, stirring, for another minute, until the garlic is translucent. Add the tomatoes, a pinch of sugar and salt and pepper to taste, and turn the heat to medium-high. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, cover and simmer 20 to 30 minutes, stirring often, until the mixture has cooked down and is very fragrant.
• Add the white wine and saffron and bring to a boil. Add the mussels, cover and steam 4 to 5 minutes, until they open. Stir the mussels halfway through to make sure they are evenly exposed to the heat. As they open, remove to a bowl with tongs. Discard any that have not opened. Keep warm.
• Stir the nut and garlic mixture and the remaining parsley into the tomato sauce. Taste and adjust seasoning. Distribute the mussels among 4 wide soup bowls and spoon the sauce over. Serve with bread for sopping up the sauce.
• To skin hazelnuts, toast in a 300-degree oven for 20 minutes, until they begin to smell toasty. Remove from the heat and wrap in a clean dish towel. Rub the nuts in the towel and the skins will slip off. Turn the oven up to 350 degrees and roast for another 5 to 10 minutes, until light brown and toasty.