Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Tabasco Mussels

Lately I've been cooking a lot of mussels so while my last post was about mussels, today I'm throwing in another recipe, just because!!! ...... I see an obsession on the horizon .. which is a good thing, right?

Twenty eight years and I can't say I've learned how to control my "obsessive" personality, which is odd since on the opposite extreme I have very good self control (diets have never been a problem, cutting out soda or a specific food was as easy as making the decision to)  I'm very black and white/opposite extremes in many ways.

My family on the other hand know me all too well. I'll usually eat the same thing consecutively for days to weeks until even the sight of it makes me want to throw up so they learned to cut me off early with a couple of warnings and then just taking it away all together.

 My poor husband is still learning this strange quirk of mine (can we call it that?)  I have no doubt that he must have wondered why we're eating Asparagus every single night during Ontario Asparagus season or how I can eat chestnuts and guzzle eggnog for the entire Christmas season and then complain about how much I can't stand it and never want to look at it again (until next year of course!)
Some seasonal foods I can pick up the next year, other foods just get the boot and I will be absolutely done with them for a while until years down the road when they get picked up again.
I do have my strengths though like my dislike for most desserts sweets and chocolate, you'll never have to worry about hiding chocolate from me, if it's sitting around in plain sight I'll probably never touch it but with all those other foods hubby has learned to "save" them from being ruined for me by just not let them follow me home from the store. :)

So mussels... as I mentioned in my other post, they're just so good on their own but when someone mentioned "Mussels and Tabasco sauce" during a little Christmas party chit-chat around the seafood platter I thought "I GOTTA TRY THAT!"

Mussels and Tabasco, as easy as the last recipe because it's only 3-4 ingredients.  I served it with homemade oven baked fries on the side.

-1 tub fresh Mussels

- Glug of olive oil
- 3 large cloves garlic. pureed or minced
- 1/2 cup water or white wine
- Big sprinkle of kosher salt

1.Heat the olive oil and saute the garlic in a large pot until fragrant

2.Drain the mussels from the sea water in the tub and remove any broken/opened or dead ones (most of them may appear open but after a couple of minutes close up so give them a bit of time and don't chuck 'em out too soon)

3.Add the mussels to the pot, throw in the salt and add the liquid. Cover and steam until mussels open. You could open the lid and stir them with a slotted spoon or shake the pot with the lid on just to get things moving.

Once open they're done!

Plate and cover with Tabasco sauce or put the sauce in a small platter for dipping on the side. YUM!