If you love mussels and are looking for a delightful refreshing herb and garlic recipe recipe this weekend, look no further. Mussels are steamed in white wine for a few minutes just until they open their shell revealing the succulent meat within. They are then separated into half shells.
A quick round in the food processor, turn parsley and garlic into a fine chop. Add some fresh breadcrumbs, Parmigiano Reggiano cheese (none of the Parmesan thank you very much) and lovely olive oil, pinch of salt and you’ve got a gorgeous fragrant filling for those yummy mussels.
Pop a tablespoon or so and fill up the mussels. In the hot over for 10 minutes and you’ve got one of the easiest meat starters on the planet. While you’re serving the wine to your guests, the oven dings and what a great treat all around!
warmly,
Devaki
Recipe for:
Cozze al forno ~ Italian Style Baked Mussels
Shopping list  Appetizer sized servings: 4
2-1/2 lb mussels; bearded, scrubbed & cleaned
½ cup white wine
2 whole cloves garlic
4 tbsp olive oil
~
3 cloves garlic, peeled
1-1/2 cups fresh parsley
â…“ cup home-made fresh breadcrumbs (from 1 day old stale artisan bread)
½ cup Parmigiano-Reggiano shredded cheese
½ tsp ground black pepper
¼ tsp salt
Preparation:
Parsley-garlic: In a food processor, chop the garlic and parsley leaves until fine.
Remove to a bowl and set aside.
Method: Preheat the oven to 425 deg F.
Place the mussels in a large pot or wok.
Add whole garlic cloves & white wine. On high heat with the lid on, steam for approx. 10 minutes or so  until the mussels open completely.
Drain the mussels and strain the cooking juice through a fine strainer. Reserve the mussel liqueur for use in seafood soups in the future. Allow the mussels to cool until they are cool enough to handle.
Crumb mixture: To the chopped parsley-garlic mixture add the breadcrumbs, cheese, olive oil, salt & pepper and toss to thoroughly combine.
Once the mussels are cool enough to handle, take a few minutes to discard the other half empty shells from the mussels. Remove any ‘beards’ if you see them.
Place all the mussels in their half shells in a baking dish or large baking pan.
Sprinkle ½ tbs-full crumb mixture on each of the mussels using all the mixture up, divided equally among the mussels.
Bake in the hot oven for 10 minutes. Serve warm.
Mangia! Mangia!
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