Mussels Cooked in Beer

Mussels in tomato-lager broth.

All done. We are feeling full and happy at this point.

Adam and I love beer, and the other night our friends Stacey and Steve introduced us to an amazing new bar for beer nerds. Colorado Plus --they have 64 Colorado beers on tap. Their selection is fantastic and really interesting--with a heavy emphasis on big stouts and IPAs--and you can get flights. Adam was in heaven but I was running the half-marathon the next day, and I thought that, having actually trained for it this time, maybe I should stay sober even if it was Saturday. So instead of ordering the 12% barrel-aged Imperial Stout I actually wanted, I sipped some gluten-free raspberry crap because it was the only thing on their taps at less than 8%.
And for dinner I ordered the mussels--and to my annoyance, they were cooked wrong. Raw-ish chunks of tomato were lightly simmered in barely-cooked beer. The mussels were juicy and plump, but the whole thing failed to reach it's potential. Irritating. So I kept thinking about it, and wanted to make a better version of the dish myself. I usually make a simple white-wine preparation for mussels, but why not mix it up?

Mussels are simple to cook--you saute a cup or so of aromatics, then deglaze with two cups of the liquid of your choice (wine, beer, stock, coconut milk, etc), then add the mussels, cover, cook for five minutes until they open, mix with the broth then serve!

Ingredients 
1 bag of mussels (2 lbs? From the grocery store)
2 tablespoons salted butter
1 red onion, diced
3 ripe red tomatoes, diced
6 garlic cloves, minced
1 can of lager (I used our homebrew, but anything will work)
1 cup fish stock or vegetable stock
handful of parsley, finely chopped
salt to taste

What To Do 
Remove the mussels from their bag and place in a large bowl. Fill with cold tap water. This freshwater soak will get them to expel any sand or ocean schmutz in their shells.
Melt the butter in the bottom of a large pot with the heat on medium-high. Add the onion and tomatoes and saute, stirring regularly, for about 10 minutes. Add the garlic and continue to cook for five more minutes.

Add the beer and stock. Bring to a boil and cook, uncovered, for seven or so minutes. You want the alcohol to cook out and for all the flavors to meld. Taste and add salt.
Drain the mussels and add them to the pot. Cover and allow to cook for about 5 minutes. Open the lid--are they open? If so, they're done. Sprinkle with the parsley. Ladel mussels into a bowl to serve, making sure everyone gets some of the tasty broth.
Serve with thick slices of sourdough bread.

I baked a loaf of bread to go with--using my trusty beer-yeast starter. The mussels were cooked in the beer this yeast produced--full circle or something, right? 

Mussels are a great choice when you're having people over--delicious and unusual, but really easy.
Enjoy!

Classic Mussels

Today was my last day of summer! And a momentous summer it was--a perfect wedding, a spectacular honeymoon, our tadpoles turned into frogs, our garden produced actual food. Nothing could have been better. But all good things must come to an end, and someone has to get our founding class to a 23 or higher ACT. And someone has to act like a bitch until people take their reading homework seriously. And someone needs to yell about lay vs. lie. And that someone can really be no one but me. So in the morning, I have to drive on the highway again, back to work.  

So to celebrate the final summer dinner, I made mussels. I made them my favorite way--super simply, the classic, most basic way--fennel, garlic, butter, wine, a few fresh herbs tossed in at the very end. 

Mussels are incredibly delicious, and incredibly easy to make at home. They seem fancy, but don't be fooled--this is easier than searing chicken breasts. A big bowl of mussels, some buttery toast, cold white wine--a perfectly elegant summer dinner, made even better if you have somewhere outside to sit while you eat. 

Ingredients! Mussels, butter, fennel, wine, shallots, parsley, garlic. 

Ingredients: 
1 bag of mussels (sold at the butcher counter of the grocery store, even in Denver)
1 bulb of fennel
1 large (or 2 small) shallot, diced
4 fat (or 6 less fat) cloves of garlic, minced
half a bottle of white wine (any kind is fine)
a handful of parsley, chopped
salt and pepper to taste

What to do: 
Start by cutting the mussels out of their mesh bag. Place them in a bowl and fill the bowl with cold tap water. Leave them for half and hour. This soaking in fresh water will cause them to expel any sand that they may have in their shells. (note--I read mussel recipes that mention "debearding". I don't know what this really means, as no mussel I've cooked has a noticeable beard. I've always ignored this and been fine, so you should too)

Mussels before cooking.

Saute the fennel, shallot, and garlic in the butter for about 6 minutes. The fennel and shallot should be translucent.

Sauteing the garlic, shallot, and fennel. I also grilled some zucchini and patty pan squash from the garden as a side.   

Add the wine and bring to a boil. Throw in a pinch of salt and pepper. Allow to boil for about 2 minutes, so the flavors of the fennel, shallot, and garlic infuse the wine and the alcohol edge mellows out.
Drain the mussels in a colander. Add them to the bubbling wine mix. Cover the pot but leave the heat all the way up. Leave for five minutes.

They are done!

Open the pot and stir the mussels. Are they all open? If so, they're done! If not, cover again and cook more.
When they're open, stir in the chopped parsley and stir the mussels around to soak them all in the sauce.
Serve in bowls, with buttery toasted bread.
Use the mussel shell as a spoon, scooping up sauce with each bite.

I baked some bread to go with the mussels. I ended up buttering and grilling fat slices--delicious. 

This was delicious. We ate on the deck, shooing away flies and poorly-behaved dogs. 

It was the perfect end to the best possible summer. 

Enjoy!