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Mussels Josephine




Source of Recipe


recipezaar.com (modified slightly)






Recipe Introduction


My husband had to play a concert up in Boston, and of course I went with him. We were taken to a lovely restaurant while there that served something called "Mussels Sambuca" - and it was so amazing that I vowed to find the recipe for it. This comes REAL close.





List of Ingredients



• 3 dozen (about 2 lbs) fresh Prince Edward mussels (hint: just about ALL mussels on the East Coast come from Prince Edward Island!)
  
• 1 small yellow onion, chopped (keep a little to the side for mincing - you'll see why, keep reading)
  
• six cloves chopped garlic (I chop garlic very coarsely)
  
• 14 ounces chopped tomatoes (de-seed first)
  
• fresh basil (emphasis on FRESH)
  
• 2 ounces sambuca romana
  
• juice of 1/2 a lemon
  
• LEMON BUTTER SAUCE ingredients follow:
  
• 1/4 cup butter
  
• 2 T minced yellow onion
  
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic (that's about two large cloves)
  
• 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
  
• 2 T dry white wine
  
• kosher salt
  
• pepper, to taste
  
• 2 T cold butter
  






Instructions



1. MAKE THE LEMON BUTTER SAUCE FIRST. Melt the 1/4 cup butter over low heat. remove from heat and let it sit until the milk solids settle at the bottom. Skim the clear butter from the top, and discard the sediment.
   
2. Saute the minced onion and the minced garlic in in the clarified butter until transparent.
   
3. Stir in lemon juice and the white wine; season with the salt and pepper
   
4. Simmer 2 - 3 minutes to reduce the liquid.
   
5. Remove from heat and swirl in the cold butter until the sauce is smooth and the butter is melted.
   
6. NOW FOR THE MUSSELS. This is a lesson in mussel biology. You will first need to wash and "de-beard" the mussels, which means to rip the "hairy" part off of them. If possible, keep the mussels on ice... or with very cold water running over them. DO NOT SUBMERGE THEM ENTIRELY IN WATER OR THEY WILL DROWN. Seriously. Look it up if you don't believe me. Also, if you notice any which are hanging open or have broken shells, discard them.
   
7. Be sure you have a big enough container to make this in. Lacking a large enough skillet, I just used a big, deep pot, and it was fine.
   
8. Coat the pot with melted butter. Add the mussels and cover. The steam will cook the mussels along with the heat of the pan. It won't take long to cook the mussels... you'll know they're done when the mussels begin to open.
   
9. Next, add to the pan: the chopped onion, the chopped garlic, the chopped tomatoes.
   
10. Add 2 ounces of sambuca (or a little more, but be careful, it's strong!). Let the alcohol cook off, then add the fresh basil, the juice of 1/2 a lemon and the lemon butter sauce to the pan. Cook for about another minute or so.
    
11. Discard any mussels that did not open during the cooking process. Serve in a large bowl.
    






Final Comments


Be sure you serve this with a hearty, crusty bread, because you're going to want to sop up every last drop of that broth! My husband thinks that it'd probably also taste good over pasta, which we haven't tried yet. If you give it a go, let me know how it works out.