If you can drag it from a body of water, I'll probably eat it. I say probably because I'm not so sure about eating sea urchin or eel (visions of snakes...eek). I especially love clams and mussels, but it's really hard to get fresh clams and mussels around here. So.....I tried some pre-cooked, frozen mussels, and I was totally surprised. They were very good, and I'm not real sure that I could tell the difference in them and the fresh ones that are pictured below. Another bonus is that they're not very expensive, about $2 per pound.
Here's basically what you'll need and how I cooked them:
2 T butter
olive oil, about 1 T
1/4 large onion, chopped
1 to 2 T chopped garlic
1" ribbon of anchovie paste
About 9 grape tomatoes, seeded and chopped
chicken stock
chopped parsley
1 lb frozen, pre-cooked mussels
Saute the onion in the butter and olive oil until translucent. Add the garlic and continue to cook for a few minutes. Add the anchovie paste, the tomatoes, and the chicken stock. Stir to combine. Add some chopped parsley (I didn't measure. I just tore off about a handful. Save some for garnish.) Let the sauce reduce.
I used frozen, pre-cooked mussels that came in a vacuum sealed bag. I followed the directions on the bag--placed the vacuum sealed bag of frozen mussels in large pot of boiling water for 7 minutes.
Add some of the broth from the bag of mussels to the sauce. Place the mussels on the serving plate, pour the sauce over, and garnish with chopped parsley.
If you're wondering where the top part of shells are, I took them off as I plated the mussels. I wanted some of that delicious sauce on every one of the mussels, and sometimes the top part of the shell shields the mussels from getting sauced.
Below are the fresh clams and mussels that I cooked in a similar way using shallots instead of onion, wine, and seafood stock instead of chicken stock.
Clams and Mussels in a Tomato, Shallot, Garlic, and Wine Sauce:
Above are fresh clams and mussels
