This Steamed Mussels Recipe Makes Great Outdoor Dining

Southerners love to eat outdoors and I am no exception. Recently for my birthday I had a small outdoor soiree featuring mussels and complementary white wine. So I thought I would share my favorite steamed mussels recipe.
You will need:
about 2 lbs fresh mussels
1 cup white wine
1 heaping tbls tomato paste
2 cloves garlic, chopped and sauteed in olive oil
2 tbls sugar
1/4 c lime compound butter or plain butter and 1 tsp lime zest
7 oz sundried tomatoes
1 small bunch green onions coarsely chopped
sea salt to taste
1 fresh lime

To prepare:
Ideally use a pan large enough for the mussels to be in a single layer, but it is not necessary. To the pan add the white wine, tomato paste, salt, compound butter, garlic and sugar. Put on medium high heat. Stir to mix ,then add the mussels, cover, and let them steam until they have all opened. Discard any unopened ones. Put mussels and juices in a serving dish and top with sun dried tomatoes and chopped green onions. Add a squeeze of fresh lime right before serving.That's it!
This must be served with fresh bread as sopping the juices with the bread is part of the delightful experience.

The juice is exquisite as the mussels release their liquid into the wine tomato mixture while they steam.

It tastes great indoors or out but is especially wonderful outdoors on a pretty day with plenty of wine..

Comments

How to Restore Old Brass Without Losing Patina

Brass is really trendy right now. Much of the home decor brass commercially available is cheaply made and will not retain it's beauty long. But brass made in the first quarter of the 20th century and earlier, develops an exquisite patina. Assuming of course that it has had reasonable care throughout it's long life. Sometimes, a good piece of brass will have just a tiny bit of verdigris, that is the crusty blue green stuff caused by oxidation and tells you corrosion is setting in. I see this a lot on furniture with brass mounts, lamps, chandeliers and light fixtures. Most brass tutorials give directions only on bringing brass back to it's super bright finish. Many antique dealers restore brass to it's bright finish, removing the patina and then apply a commercial solution to darken it again. I can always spot those. They never look quite right. There are some pieces that devalue when you remove the patina. Natural patina enhances the beauty of a piece, like this cl...

Southern Bacon and Crawfish Cornbread Dressing

Imagine you are dining outside at Blake Shelton's house this Thanksgiving and deep frying some big turkeys. A crawfish dressing would probably be on the menu. Deep fried turkeys and outdoor dining on Thanksgiving day is very popular in the South. And while people don't wild catch crawfish like they did a century ago, crawfish are always popular on the menu. Here I have paired it with bacon, corn, mirepoix,and jalapenos to give you a dressing with real local flavor. Here is what you need: 5 cups crumbled cornbread 1 1/2 lbs boiled crawfish tails ( frozen is fine) 10 ounces bacon, cooked and coarsely crumbled 12 ounces yellow corn 1 1/2 cups chopped yellow onion 1/1/2 cups chopped celery 1/1/2 cups green red and orange bell pepper 1 jalapeno ( optional) 2 eggs beaten 2 cups chicken stock salt, thyme, and sage to taste. Fry your bacon until it is ready to crumble, remove from pan and set aside. Saute the mirepoix, (onions ,peppers and celery) corn and jala...

Birdcage Beauties

Bird keeping is an ancient art. Long before the Spaniards invaded Mexico, Macaws were being bred as pets and the Japanese were cultivating beautiful songbirds. But of course it was the French, during the time of Louis XIV that brought bird keeping into popular culture. These birds all needed housing and the variety of cages designed for them is as varied as our own homes. From the Baroque... ..to primitive... ..whether for decor impact, or for keeping live birds.. beautiful bird cages, with their airy design adds ambiance to every space they grace. It is no surprise that they are the darlings of decorators around the world. If you love bird cages as much as we do, we offer this gilded cage currently on Chairish. https://www.chairish.com/product/286472/gilded-birdcage or click our icon in the right hand column. A stunning home for a pair of Java Temple Birds, Finches or Canaries. Until next time..

Oh La LaY'all......French Style and Southern Charm

Search This Blog