Mussels cooked in white wine

I have always liked the idea of making mussels at home.  So this weekend my husband and visited the Sydney Fish Markets! After adequately gorging ourselves on some oysters and Balmain Bugs for lunch we decided to take some mussels home to prepare.

Now I have never made mussels at home but we hadn't quite prepared ourselves for the task at hand. Don't get me wrong the mussels cook very quickly indeed.  However preparing them is quite another matter.  So below I go through how to prepare the mussels at home along with a easy and tasty sauce to prepare the mussels in. 

To start with you need to de-beard the mussels.  This involves pulling the filament on the side of the mussels off the shell.  This is best done with a wet towel. Remember to be firm and pull on the filament in a downward motion toward yourself.  There are some great YouTube clips that demonstrate this should you need more assistance.

Once the filament is removed you need to descale the shells. Using a brush, scrub the shells clean.  It will go from this to this: 

All the mussels should be closed at this stage. If any are open tap the mussels lightly.  If it does not close then the mussels are dead and you need to discard these. 

Now let's prepare the sauce.  We have used 1 kg of mussels in this recipe. 

Ingredients:

• 1 cup dry white wine
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 12 small heirloom tomatoes, chopped in half
• 2 tbsp black pepper, freshly ground
• Chili flakes (adding to your heat preference)
• Salt to taste
• 1/3 cup mixed fresh herbs, such as flat-leaf parsley and thyme 

Method: 

1. In a large pot set over medium heat cook the garlic and onions until translucent

2. Add the tomatoes, wine, pepper and salt. Cook until the tomatoes become soft. 

3. Stir in herbs and allow the sauce to thicken slightly.

4. Add the mussels. Cover and increase heat to high. Cook until all mussels are open and then remove from the heat.

5. Serve immediately with bread to mop up all the flavour.