Mussel, Mussel, Whose Got the Mussel?

I love seafood but have never prepared nor consumed mussels. These little clam-like creatures scared me especially in the cooking aspect. Why o why did I let these thoughts intimidate me? Today, I found a recipe for mussels and pasta and finally decided to challenge myself into preparing these scary little shells. WOW! I did it! I actually prepared mussels! AND they tasted great! AND it only took about fifteen minutes to cook the dish! We have a keeper boys! I was so excited by the whole process I forgot to take a picture. Sorry guys, but it just gives me an excuse to prepare again. What did I make? Oh, yeah, you probably want to know what recipe excited me so much. Ok, ok, I'll tell you. "Mussels Marinara di Amore," an absolutely beautiful dish. It's over at All Recipes. I subscribe to their Daily Dish notes and it came in on Valentine's Day. I already had dinner planned so I didn't consider it until I was looking back over my email today. But who could resist this recipe introduction. "Steam fresh mussels in a fragrant, spicy, and easy-to-make melange of garlic, tomatoes, oregano, basil, pepper flakes, and wine." Though neither of us considered it a spicy sauce. Plus, because I had almost all the ingredients I only spent $10.52 for the meal (Washington state does not charge sales tax on food). The one pound of mussels were perfect for two people with the pasta and bread. I only used half the pasta and we still had half a loaf of bread left over. So the true price for the meal was $7.75 and for two people it only comes out to $3.87 each. What a deal! It does pay to stock up your pantry. Ok, so you are probably wondering what I had on hand for this meal. I already had the olive oil, garlic, tomatoes, dried oregano, dried basil, crushed red pepper flakes, white wine, and a lemon. You could totally leave out the wine if you don't drink alcohol, but you need to add some other liquid (maybe pasta water) to keep the juice and to help in the steaming process. So here's what I did for this recipe: (Print-friendly recipe available at the end of this post.) First clean and debeard your mussels. Mine were cultivated mussels, so I just rinsed under cold water and gave the shells a quick scrub. Any mussels that won't close, discard. None of them really needed debearding. Second, I brought a pot of water to boil for the pasta. Cook according to your pasta's directions. Then, heat one tablespoon of olive oil in a skillet, add one minced glove of garlic and saute until transparent. Add one (14.5 oz) can of stewed tomatoes (mashed for that crushed texture), 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano, 1/2 teaspoon dried basil, 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes. Reduce heat to low and simmer for five minutes. Add wine and mussels to skillet; cover and increase the heat to high about four minutes or until the mussel shells open. Plate up your pasta, pour the mussel mixture over the pasta, sprinkle parsley over the top and squeeze a lemon wedge or two over the dish. Garnish with the lemon and serve. Eat and enjoy! Print-Friendly Recipe: Mussels Marinara di Amore