Mussels with Andouille

So apparently I’ve never written down my base recipe for mussels, one of my favorite things to cook and eat.  This recipe is an easy crowd pleaser served family-style, and is fun luxury for a date.

Ingredients

The rule of thumb when mussels are the main course is one pound per person.  This recipe makes enough broth enough to happily serve 4-6 people, maybe more.  I suppose you could make less broth if cooking for fewer, but then you might miss out on having an excellent leftover soup base.

• 1 or 2 andouille sausage, cooked and diced into roughly quarter-inch cubes (or linguica, chorizo). 1/4 to 1/3 pound total.
• 1 small onion, diced (or 2 shallots or 1 shallot and the whites of a bunch of scallions)
• 1 bulb fennel, diced
• (some halved cherry tomatoes too if you want)
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 stick unsalted butter
• pinch saffron (10ish threads)
• 1.5 to 2 cups chardonnay.  I like the Chateau San Michelle we have out in Washington a lot in this dish (a little sweet, not too much oak, and it makes good drinking too).
• salt to taste
• mussels (1 pound per person)
• greens of a bunch of scallions, 1 inch pieces (for color)
• good bread for dipping

Equipment

• big pot with tight lid for steaming.  You can make this work with a big skillet with deep walls and a lid too.

Preparation

1. Try to buy mussels the day you’re going to cook them, but people say they’ll keep for a day in a dry bowl in the fridge under a wet paper towel.
2. If the sausage isn’t pre-cooked, cook the sausage and reserve a tablespoon of the fat.  Then cube.
3. Rinse and soak mussels under cold water for a couple minutes to remove grit. Shortly before cooking, de-beard the mussels.
4. In a big pot with a tight fitting lid over medium heat, brown the sausage cubes in their own fat or tiny amount of butter.
5. After sausage starts to brown, add onions and saute for a minute or two. Add a pinch of salt and add butter as needed.
6. Add fennel and saute for a minute or two.
7. Add garlic and give things a good stir.
8. Add (remainder of) stick of butter, stir it in as it melts.
9. Add a pinch of saffron and stir it all about. A little goes a long way. My best guess is I put in about 10 threads, maybe a little more.
10. Add 1.5 to 2 cups of wine (you’re already drinking some, right?). Turn up the heat and boil until the alcohol smell is diminished (2ish minutes for me).
11. Taste and add salt if necessary (a pinch at a time, stir and taste).  You want it to taste a bit under-salted because the mussels add their own, but you don’t want the broth to taste totally flat at this stage.
12. Add in the mussels and the scallion greens, put the lid on, and steam for 3 to 5 minutes.  Once most of the mussels are open wide, it’s done.
13. Transfer to a big serving bowl, let rest for a few minutes to come to a tastier temperature, and enjoy with lots of bread!

Leftovers

If you have leftover broth, there’s a great soup base waiting.

1. With any leftover mussels, pluck the meats out and set aside. They’re good in a salad.
2. There’s a lot of flavor on the mussel shells, so take the leftover shells (minus any mussels that didn’t open), and put them in the big pot with the leftover broth and about 1 to 2 times as much water.
3. Boil everything for a few minutes with the lid on.
4. Discard the shells and use the broth for soups or whatever.

Soup ideas

1. This last time, we made a soup with more andouille cubes, scallions, kale, and grated parmesan.  This went great as an opener for a lemony butter garlic pasta.
2. This would also make an excellent tortellini soup base.
3. The next night, we shifted it with a little soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic, and a little sweet paprika and white pepper, served alongside rice.

Enjoy!