mussels

one of my all time favorite dishes to eat is steamed mussels with pommes frites. i love using the mussel shells as a clamp to pluck out the juicy morsels of meat. Plouf in San Francisco, CA makes some of the BEST mussels with pommes frites with 5 different sauces to choose from. I usually take the remaining sauce and pour it over my pommes frites. so disgustingly delicious i'm salivating as i write this...

on a recent episode of barefoot contessa, ina garten made Mussels in White Wine. I idolize ina, she makes everything look so easy and delicious. i looked up the recipe and noticed a few ingredients that i typically avoid, fresh herbs and saffron.

fresh herbs intimidate me, i don't really know how it enhances dishes so i typically just dont use them, opting for dried herbs. i avoid saffron because it's the most expensive spice in the world!

i wholeheartedly trusted ina and went to buy all of her suggested ingredients, even the saffron which i found for $6.99 at whole foods! sure there were only about 15 threads but atleast they didn't only sell them in bulk size for $20.

i'm so glad i followed her recipe exactly, it was actually fun to pull off the thyme leaves from the stems. instead of the pommes frites, i made a garlic parmesan bread and toasted it in the oven at 300 F for 10 minutes. we finished this bowl of mussels in under 15 minutes and soaked up all of the liquids with the bread. i'd definitely make this again! i'll try a squeeze of lemon next time to really accentuate the different flavors.

bon appetit!

for this recipe, i chose a crisp pinot grigio.
told you i only cook with wine i'd drink...

...and a close up so you can see the yummy goodness in each of the shells

mussel facts:

• mussels are only in season in months that contain the letter r (january, february, march, april, september, october, november, december)
• if buying live mussels, you should eat them the same day
  
• if you will not be eating mussels the same day you cook them, make sure you take them out of the bag so they can breathe and place them in the refrigerator with a damp towel over them. 
• when i asked the whole foods guy if i should pour the mussels into a bowl of water, he practically hit me with the bag of mussels and said, "NO! THEY'LL DIE!" who knew? i thought they lived in the water!