Recipe: Sauvignon Blanc-Steamed Mussels with Garlic Toasts

Seriously.  Start swooning now.  Because if you don’t do it now, you will be after you try out this recipe.  I thought we already had an OMG mussel recipe under our belt, but this one is giving that one a ridiculous run for the money, courtesy of the newest issue of Food & Wine magazine.

Even with 70+ magazine subscriptions, every now and then, I still manage to get through a current issue when it’s still current.  (People and Us magazine are exceptions though.  While a Cooking Light or Country Living might be able to wait, People and Us cannot.  If I don’t read them right away, people who just got married are already divorced). 

Tonight’s recipe comes from the October issue of Food & Wine magazine.  Because I already have such love for this Emeril recipe, I’m usually hesitant in pulling out new recipes to try for steamed mussels because, really, how different can they be?

Well to think I almost missed out on this one…

Although it may sound fancy and stuck-up, Sauvignon Blanc-Steamed Mussels with Garlic Toasts is anything but.  The recipe notes that it takes 20 minutes, and for what it delivers, it’s 20 minutes well spent.  Even with the dog, the baby, Nicholas AND The Husband underfoot,  I managed to do it in 15 minutes, so if I can handle it, so can you.  And aside from the mussels, odds are that you have most, if not all, of the ingredients already on hand, so no more excuses.

Like mussels?  Give this one a try.  Love mussels?  Don’t pass it by.  The sauce that is produced is mouth-wateringly good and so buttery smooth, you’ll die a little inside when you try it.  Only thing I changed was to nix the parsley.  Slurp away!

P.S.  Forgive the picture … camera so not behaving and is going to be shipped away to reform school (otherwise known as Kodak Customer Service) soon because it is now producing very faint and fuzzy pictures.

P.P.S.  What we’re reading … Book #3.

Hungry for more mussel recipes?
Mark Bittman of the New York Times offers up a Mussels and Potato Salad dish.
The Perfect Pantry puts a jar of red curry paste to good use with her Red Curry Mussel Stew.
And Jaden, who has a sense of humor like no other, serves Steamed Mussels in Lemongrass Coconut Curry.

Sauvignon Blanc–Steamed Mussels with Garlic Toasts
Recipe courtesy of Food and Wine magazine, October 2008

TOTAL TIME: 20 MIN

SERVES: 4

• 4 thick slices of white peasant bread
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for brushing
• 2 garlic cloves—1 left whole, 1 thinly sliced
• 1 medium shallot, minced
• Salt and freshly ground pepper
• 4 pounds mussels, scrubbed
• 1-1/2 cups Sauvignon Blanc or other dry white wine
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1/4 cup coarsely chopped flat-leaf parsley (I skipped)

1. Preheat the broiler. Brush the bread with olive oil and transfer to a baking sheet. Broil the bread a few inches from the heat, turning once, for 2 minutes, until golden and toasted. Lightly rub the whole garlic clove over the toasts.
2. In a large, deep pot, heat the 1/4 cup of olive oil. Add the shallot and sliced garlic, season lightly with salt and pepper and cook over high heat, stirring, until the garlic is softened and lightly browned, about 3 minutes. Add the mussels and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add the wine, cover and steam the mussels until they open, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the mussels to 4 deep bowls, discarding any mussels that do not open.
3. Add the butter and parsley to the broth, swirling and shaking the pot until the butter melts. Slowly pour the broth over the mussels, stopping before you reach the grit at the bottom of the pot. Serve the mussels with the garlic toasts.

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