This Friday is a little rainy and gloomy where I live in Ohio so I am staying in with a great meal. I have a dish that’s delicious, rather simple to make, and has wow factor. Steamed Mussels. I like to pair them with a simple Angel Hair pasta and a complex wine cream sauce.
Its important to remember the star of the show here. The Sauce. It’s not the Mussels or the pasta. So let’s focus on the sauce when making this dish. I like to have pasta water roiling (boiling) as soon as possible and my sauté pan for muscles over a low to medium flame. Angel hair pasta is very easy to cook for 3-5 minutes and I won’t go over how to cook it. Now The Sauce.
White wine Cream sauce
Yield: Approximately 2–2½ cups
Ingredients
2 tbsp butter, divided
1 tbsp olive oil
¼ cup shallots, finely minced
1 tbsp garlic, minced
1 cup dry white wine
1 cup heavy cream
½ cup chicken stock
1 pint grape tomatoes, halved
¼ cup fresh parsley, chopped
¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese (optional)
1½ tsp fresh lemon juice
1 tsp fresh lemon zest
½ tsp fresh thyme, chopped
Salt and black pepper, to taste
Instructions
Sauté: Heat olive oil and 1 tbsp butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add shallots and cook for 3–4minutes.
Add garlic: Cook for 30–60 seconds until fragrant.
Reduce wine and stock: Add a bit of white wine to scrap the bottom of pan the add res ad stock and simmer until reduced by about two-thirds.
Add cream: Stir in heavy cream and tomatoes Simmer gently for 8–12 minutes or until slightly thickened.
Finish the sauce: Whisk in Parmesan (if using), remaining butter, thyme, lemon juice, and lemon zest.
Add parsley: Fold in chopped parsley during the final minute. Season with salt and black pepper.
Mussel
1lb Private Selection Mussels
1tbsp Extra-virgin olive oil
Take heated pan toss in Mussels. Place lid on top and heat over medium-high heat for 6 to 8 minutes until Mussels open up. Discard any that didn’t open.
Finish this dish of with some crusty bread of your choosing charred on one side. For the plating of this dish I piled the pasta in the middle poured a little clam juice on the pasta then the sauce. Bread garnished the extra Mussel plate.
