Friday, September 12, 2008

Mussels with peccorino and bread crumbs

We didn't have those recently, but I cannot stop fantasizing about having them soon. It is one of my favorite dish with mussels, easy to make, very tasty and they look really great. The differences in consistency between the soft flesh of the mussel in combination with the crunchy breadcrumbs and the cheese...
Uh, and I do love eating them with my hands, or using mussel shells to eat them. Hmmm.
Wikipedia tell us that there is evidence for humans eating mussels in prehistoric times (not that surprising, IMHO).

Here's the recipe:

for 6 persons you need:
2 kg of fresh or deep frozen mussels (including the shells, that is)
1/4 l white wine
1 bunch of fresh parsley
4 garlic cloves
6 table spoons of bread crumbs
6 table spoons of grinded cheese (I prefer peccorino, but parmesan does the trick, too. I has to be fresh, though)
10 table spoons ofolive oil, extra vergine
1 lemon
salt
pepper

Clean mussels from the byssal threads, under cold running water. I use a hard brush for this. Try to remove all hairy stuff. Discard open mussels (when they are really fresh, they may open during washing. You can test whether they are still alive (=edible): knock them gently on the kitchen counter, set them aside and if they closed after a few minutes, they are fine. If they move in general, they are fine.
Bring water and salt in a large pot to boil, add the mussels and the white wine. 
In the meantime,mix breadcrumbs, lemonjuice, crushed garlic, chopped parsley, grinded cheese, pepper, salt and olive oil.
Preheat oven to 200 degrees celsius.

Check your pot for open mussels. It should not take much longer than 10 minutes of boiling until they are done. Drain. Discard all closed mussels at this stage (obivously, no testing for being alive now).
Open all mussels and remove the flesh, gently, to keep it whole. Then put it back in one half shell. Discard other halves. Place a teaspoon of the breadcrumb-paste on top of the mussel flesh in each shell. Bake until cheese melts and breadcrumbs are brown.


Enjoy. (you may eat them with a fork, too)

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