Mussels in Marinara Sauce

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I always go for the baguette!

One of my all-time favourite meals is Mussels in Spicy Marinara Sauce. I love how fast and easy it is to prepare, yet how utterly delightful it turns out. The deep, rich and spicy marinara sauce is just perfect for dunking a piece of baguette to soak it up. Every piece offers a moist, spicy, flavoursome bite with affirmative hints of the sea and a light note of sweetened acidity from the tomatoes and wine. The softened baguette’s texture compliments the slight chew of the mussels… Each bite is an absolute indulgence!

Mussels in Spicy Marinara Sauce, is one of the first foods I learnt to cook. My mum frequently cooked white fish fillets in this sauce – and since mussels are a favourite seafood of mine – I thought why not cook the mussels in it instead of the fillets! It came out excellent and made its way into my best-loved recipes category. I often make this dish, especially when entertaining. Everyone loves it and I am always showered with compliments when serving this Mussels recipe. It can be served with a side of chips or over pasta, but I always go for the baguette!

This recipe was featured in the May issue of Ahlan Gourmet. If you had missed it then, here you go and make sure to give it a try, you are going to love it. This recipe includes red wine, but you can substitute the wine with fish stock, or fresh red grapes juice in the same amount, or with half the amount of red grape vinegar for an alcohol free version.

Ingredients

  • 500g fresh mussels
  • 2 tbsp DS Premium Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil
  • 8 ripe tomatoes, peeled, deseeded and finely chopped
  • 1-2 small green chillies, finely chopped
  • 1 large red onion, finely chopped
  • 4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
  • 2 heaped tsp tomato paste
  • ¼ cup red wine / or 150 ml fresh fish stock
  • 1 tsp raw honey
  • DS Himalayan Pink Salt to taste
  • Black pepper to taste
  • Fresh Basil Chiffonade for ganish

Start by debearding and cleaning the mussels (watch the video above if you are not familiar with the process.Scrub each one with a brush under running water to remove any dirt or seaweed. Rinse well with water and set aside in a bowl of salted cold water.

When tapping the tops of the mussels they should close. Discard the ones that don’t close as they are already dead.

For detailed instructions on how to choose, clean and prepare fish or shellfish follow this link

Place the olive oil in a large saucepan over high heat and gently cook the chopped onion, sliced garlic and chopped green chillies until the onions and garlic become soft and translucent. Add the peeled chopped tomatoes and stir to mix. Add the wine or fish stock and tomato paste. Stir all to incorporate. Season to taste. Bring the tomato mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat and let the sauce simmer – stirring occasionally – for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, steam your mussels for about 3 minutes or until they are all open. (Discard the ones that did not open). Remove them from heat. Add the steamed mussels to the reduced marinara sauce and fold to mix. Place all in a serving dish, and sprinkle with fresh basil Chiffonade.

If you wish to serve these in a pass around cocktail party

All you need to do is separate the shells after steaming. Add the mussels without the shells to the marinara sauce and fold to coat with the tomatoes. wash and towel dry the shells. Place them on the serving platter/tray.

Right before serving, scoop out 1 tsp full of the marinara sauce with 1 mussel per shell and place in the cleaned dried shells on the serving platter. Garnish with the basil Chiffonade. Pass around, where guests will treat it as an oyster, slurping down the mussel and sauce, and returning the shell to the empty plate.

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