Mussels Provencale

Costco had these big 5-pound bags of mussels at about $3/lb, which I'd been eyeballing forever, and finally had the nerve to go for it and buy the thing to have for dinner. Beware--5 pounds of mussels is a WHOLE LOT! Halfway through the cleaning process, I realized that this was going to be way too much (this was before I read that 3 lbs serves 6) and decided to cook just half the bag. Imagine my surprise when we ended up with a GIANT platter (I think 10x15) of it with leftovers to boot. Our only side dishes were an ear of corn each and a loaf of French bread to sop up the mussel juices. I had to add the mussels to the menu for Ken's birthday party the next day while they're still alive (not good when dead!). It was a hit both nights, and I won't be making mussels again for a long while mostly because cleaning was a lot of work! This is another recipe from the shellfish book. Very simple, very tasty.

• 3 lb (1.5 kg) mussels, debearded & well scrubbed
• 3/4 cup(4 fl oz/125 ml) dry white wine
• 1 small yellow onion (I used 2 shallots), chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped, plus 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 6 fresh parsley stems, plus 1/3 cup chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
• 1 sprig of fresh thyme
• 1-2 bay leaves
  
• 3-4 tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• salt & freshly ground pepper

Discard any mussels that do not close to the touch. The trick is to tug on the beard as you're debearding to wake it up and close the shell. If the beard is missing, give the shell a quick squeeze and you'll see the mussel close on its own. Rinse each individually to remove any muddy/sandy bits.

In a saucepan, bring the wine to a boil Add the mussels, onion, coarsely chopped garlic, parsley stems, thyme and bay leaf. Reduce the heat to medium, cover and simmer, shaking the pan periodically, until the mussels open, about 2-4 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the mussels to a large bowl. Discard any unopened mussels.

Strain the cooking liquid through a sieve lined with several layers of cheesecloth. Reduce the liquid over high heat by half to about 1/2 cup. The mussels and their liquid cooled too quickly for my taste, so I added the lemon juice, olive oil, and minced garlic to the reduced cooking liquid in the pan, added the mussels back in and covered for about a minute to give everything a quick heat before serving. When you're ready to serve, toss in the chopped parsley then transfer to a platter. Serve with crusty French bread to soak up the liquid--you won't regret this.