Sarasota's Creamy Mussels over Pasta With Herb Bread

Easy and flavorful. A rich creamy broth which can be served over angel hair pasta and crusty bread slathered with a herb butter. Now you can make your own butter, however, you can also buy a stick of herb butter right from any major grocery store which is great to keep on hand. The mussels open in a light creamy broth with tons of flavor, served in a large bowl so the bread and pasta can soak up all the good sauce. A fair amount of ingredients, but nothing hard. This recipe is for 8, but you can easily cut it in half.

• Ready In: 50 mins
• Serves: 8
• Yields: 8 Bowls of Mussels

Ingredients

• Mussels and Sauce

• 1  lb angel hair pasta
• 4  lbs mussels (I use anywhere between 3-4 lbs, about 1/3-1/2 lb per person)
• 1  large fennel bulb, core removed and thin sliced
• 1  large onion, cut in quarters and thin sliced
• 1  large leek, thin sliced
• 2  tablespoons  minced garlic
• 1 (15 ounce) can diced tomatoes
• 1 1⁄2 cups white wine
• 1⁄2 cup brandy (I just get one of those little "airline" bottles if you don't keep any on hand, works great)
• 2  cups  vegetable stock
• 1  cup heavy cream
• 1⁄2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1⁄4 cup fresh parsley, fine chopped
• 1⁄4 cup fresh chives
• 1  lemon (1/2 squeezed, 1/2 cut in slices)
• 1⁄8 cup butter
•  salt
•  pepper

• Bread

• 8  teaspoons  herb butter (as I mentioned, I buy mine right at the grocery store, or you can make your own favorite)
• 8  slices  Italian bread (toasted)
• 1⁄2 teaspoon paprika

Directions

1. Base Flavors -- In a large sauce pan or pot, add the butter and melt on medium high heat. Add the garlic, fennel, onion and leek and cook until slightly tender (about 4-5 minutes). Deglaze the pan with the brandy (and remember to remove from the heat when you add alcohol), then add the wine and broth, tomatoes, red pepper, lemon juice, salt (go lightly mussels have a salty quality) and pepper. Let the broth warm up and cook another 5 minutes on medium (not boiling, just a light simmer).
2. Mussels -- Add in the mussels and cover. They will take around 10 minutes for that many mussels, stir occasionally. Cook until they all open.
3. Just remember - Don't add any mussels to the pot that are already open (and when tapped, they don't close), and if they are cracked, toss them.
4. Finishing -- As the mussels cook, toast up the bread and slather with the herb butter and a dash of the paprika. Cook the pasta according to directions (angel hair takes only minutes).
5. Mussels -- Finish the mussels by adding in the parsley, chives and cream. Keep on medium and cook another minute or two until the sauce is warm. Stir to get all the flavors mixed throughout.
6. Serving -- Just serve the mussels in a large serving bowl with all the broth. Make sure each person has a bowl for their pasta and plenty of the broth from the mussels and crunchy bread to soak up all that flavor. OUTSTANDING!
7. NOTE: As one reviewer mentioned they didn't make the bread, but did suggest that you do. The pasta and bread is key for this. It is a thinner sauce almost like a Japanese noodle bowl so the pasta and bread are used to soak up all the sauce and flavors. Even though it is creamy, the sauce is thinner which is why the bread and pasta are key for this.