Grilled Mussels

This is a nice way to serve mussels to your garlic loving guests. Prepare early and have them on the baking sheet ready to go. Then when your guests arrive.. just pop them into the broiler and serve with cocktails or serve as an appetizer.

• Ready In: 40 mins
• Serves: 5-6
• Yields: 60 mussels

Ingredients

• 3  lbs mussels (about 60 mussels)
• 2⁄3 cup dry white wine
• 1  cup butter, softened
• 3  tablespoons  minced garlic
• 5  tablespoons  minced fresh parsley
• 2  tablespoons  minced fresh chervil or 2  teaspoons dried chervil
• 1 1⁄4 teaspoons fresh ground pepper
• 2  cups  breadcrumbs (made from firm-textured white bread)
• 2  tablespoons  freshly grated romano cheese

Directions

1. Scrub the mussels under cold water, trim off the beards.
2. Place the mussels in a large pot, add the wine, cover and bring to a boil over moderately high heat.
3. Steam until the shells open, about 5 minutes.
4. Remove from the heat; discard any mussels that did not open.
5. In a medium bowl, blend 1-1/2 sticks of the butter with 2 TB of the garlic, 2 TB of the parsley, the chervil, and 1/4 tsp of the pepper.
6. In a small saucepan, melt the remaining butter.
7. In a medium bowl, combine the bread crumbs with the remaining 1 TB garlic, 3 TB parsley, and 1/2 tsp pepper.
8. Add the cheese and stir in the melted butter to moisten the crumbs.
9. Preheat the broiler.
10. Pull off half of each mussel shell.
11. Spread about 1/2 tsp of the garlic butter over each mussel and sprinkle evenly with the bread crumbs, pressing down gently so they adhere.
12. Place the mussels on a baking sheet in a single layer and broil until the bread crumbs are golden brown, about 2 minutes.
13. Serve hot.