Mussels in White Wine Sauce

Mille® 's Note:

Source: San Antonio Express News. The sauce is out of this world

• Total Time: 50 mins
• Prep Time: 25 mins
• Cook Time: 25 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 2

• 4 cups live mussels
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons chopped yellow onions
• 2 tablespoons chopped garlic
• 2 tablespoons Pernod (licorice-flavored liqueur from France)
• 1 -2 tablespoon chopped fresh basil
• ½ lemon, juice of
• ¾ cup lemon butter sauce

Lemon Butter Sauce

• 2 tablespoons clarified butter (you'll need about ½ stick butter; directions follow)
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped yellow onions
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped garlic
• 6 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons dry white wine
• kosher salt
• white pepper
• 2 tablespoons cold butter

Directions:

1. ----LemonButter Sauce----.
2. To clarify butter: melt ½ stick butter over low heat.
3. When melted, remove from heat and set aside for several minutes to allow the milk solids to settle to the bottom.
4. Skim the clear (clarified) butter from the top and discard sediment.
5. (This can be done ahead.) To make sauce: Heat clarified butter, add onion and garlic and sauté until transparent.
6. Add lemon juice and white wine and season to taste with salt and pepper.
7. Simmer 2 to 3 minutes to reduce liquid.
8. Remove from heat and swirl in cold butter until sauce is smooth and emulsified.
9. ----Mussels----.
10. Soak mussels in cold water for several minutes, then scrub with a stiff brush and remove"beard" (the little tuft of fibers protruding from the shell), either with a sharp knife or by pulling on it with a damp cloth.
11. Rinse mussels again in cold water.
12. Heat olive oil in a 10-inch skillet; add mussels.
13. Cover with another 10-inch skillet or lid and cook until shells begin to open, about 2 minutes.
14. Remove top and add onion and garlic and toss.
15. Cover pan again and cook for 1 minute.
16. Remove top and add Pernod, basil, lemon juice and lemon butter sauce.
17. Return to heat for 30 to 45 seconds with top off skillet.
18. Discard any mussels that did not open.
19. Serve in a deep bowl.

Reviews

[rockyp]

Great meal! Simple to put together in less time than estimated in the recipe. I followed a Belgian approach to mussels by substituting the onions with leeks and I added a little diced red pepper to give the plate some color. I served it with plenty of French bread to wipe up the scrumptious leftover sauce and a good Ontario Chardonnay.

[Tweeky]

The use of so much fresh lemon juice and the lemon butter sauce really over-powers the whole dish. Pernod can add such a wonderful flavor to a mussel preparation and with the lemon juice, you couldn't even taste the Pernod. It had a great amount of garlic, which we love, and all other ingredients were very good. I doubled the recipe because we love mussels, but I really don't think that had any bearing on the end results. I will prepare this again, but definately cut the lemon at least in half in all preparation of the recipe. I will let you know how it turns out!! Amazingly, I found this recipe also listed as a Copy Cat recipe (on another recipe web site) for a mussel's appetizer served at Carraba's (which my husband and I absolutely LOVE)and it isn't even anywhere close or in the ball park of that oustanding preparation that they do. If anyone has that recipe, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE post!!!!

[NcMysteryShopper]

We LOVE mussels and eat them often. After reading the reviews I did drastically cut down on the amount of lemon. I also added fresh tomatoes and used red onion instead of yellow onions. These were really good and we sopped up every last bit of juice with french bread. If anyone can find a copy-cat recipe of Bonefish's Mussles please POST, POST, Post! (Bonefish is an Outback concept like Carrabas and Cheeseburger in Paradise)