Beer Steamed Mussels

Aaron and I both love seafood a lot. I also love Tastespotting a lot and when I came across this recipe, I knew it was what I wanted to have for our anniversary dinner. This is a fast and easy recipe, made all the easier by Aaron going grocery shopping before I got home from work and buying amazing Washington mussels. I can't think of a better way to celebrate an anniversary than cooking together.

Beer Steamed Mussels from Big2Beautiful:

1 tablespoon olive oil
½ sweet Walla Walla onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. red pepper flakes
1 lb. mussels
8 oz. Widmer Hefeweizen
¼ tsp. salt
½ lemon
Finely minced fresh Italian parsley (never curly. Never.)

Heat a large sauté pan or pot over medium heat. When the pan is hot, add the olive oil and the onions and sauté for about 2 minutes, then add in the garlic and red pepper flakes and cook for another minute.

Add the mussels. Pour in the beer and season with salt. Once the sauce starts to boil, cover tightly. Cook for a few minutes until the mussels have opened. Squeeze the lemon over the mussels and sprinkle with parsley. We then added in egg noodles we had already boiled and a few seared scallops that didn’t end up getting wrapped in bacon (like these ones from Valentine’s Day this past year).

So delicious! What you can't see in the pictures is the amazing amount of sauce (also known as cooking liquid) at the bottom of the pan. We had some amazing baguette from Pearl Bakery that Aaron picked up at the farmer's market that was perfect for sopping that up. I do love mussels and because I don’t have them much, these seemed even better. I love the idea of cooking with beer rather than wine, though wine is also delicious. It doesn’t taste much different at first, but you get a hint of beer after each bite. The citrus nature of Widmer Hefeweizen (always our beer of choice) also blended really well with the addition of the lemon.And though I love basil, I think fresh parsley was a great choice. I try to go for what I have on hand that is fresh rather than dried. It was also excellent the next day! I mixed in some of the leftover oven roasted broccoli and it made for a dynamite lunch.

Cooking with your love is a great way to celebrate. I highly recommend this recipe, even on non-special occasions.