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This is a Rachel Ray recipe. I'd never made mussels before - they're not my thing - but Joe loves them, so I gave it a whirl. I ate only a few mussels, but Joe polished off the rest. And I thought the sauce was great to sop up with nice crusty bread.

RR uses these as an appetizer, but I served them as an entree and there was plenty for the two of us.

Mussels in Mexican Beer
Show:�30 Minute Meals
Episode:�Weekday Escapes

Recipe Summary
Difficulty: Easy
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Yield: 4 servings

Simple, de-lish and ready in less than 10 minutes, this recipe should be made first in any menu so you and yours can enjoy mouthfuls of mussels while you cook.

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, 2 turns of the pan {you can reduce this}
4 cloves garlic, cracked away from skin and crushed
1 small onion, chopped
1 jalapeno, seeded and chopped
A couple pinches salt
2 1/2 dozen mussels, scrubbed and beards removed {see Notes}
1/2 bottle dark Mexican beer, such as Modelo Negro or Dos Equis
1 (15-ounces) diced tomatoes
2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley or cilantro, your preference

In a deep skillet with a cover preheated over medium high heat, add oil, garlic, onion and jalapeno. Season with salt. Saute 2 minutes. Arrange mussels in the pan. Pour in beer and tomatoes and shake the pan to combine. Cover pan and cook 3 minutes or until mussels open. Remove from heat and spoon sauce down into shells. Garnish with parsley or cilantro. Serve immediately from the pan.

Notes:
The next time I make this, I'm going to do the following:
Use crushed tomatoes instead of diced so they get incorporated into the sauce fully.
Put the whole recipe together (including tomatoes and beer) except for the mussels the day before, then let it rest overnight in the refrigerator. When it's time for dinner, I'll bring the sauce to a boil and put the mussels in. We had leftover sauce and leftover uncooked mussels from last night, so we cooked them this way for lunch and they were great.

Cleaning the mussels was an adventure, but I followed the steps outlined
here and did okay. I've read that it's possible to buy mussels that don't need to be scrubbed or de-bearded and I'm going to look harder for those next time.

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[Research tells us fourteen out of any ten individuals likes chocolate. - Sandra Boynton]

Edited by Heather (10/08/14 03:01 PM)

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