Chinese Steamed Mussels Food

EASY STEAMED MUSSELS

Steps:

• Scrub and clean the mussels and remove the beards on the mussels by pulling them off. Drain and set aside.
• Heat up a skillet on medium heat. Add the olive oil. Saute the garlic a few times before adding the mussels. Stir and toss the mussels. Add the white wine and diced tomato. Cover the skillet with its lid and steam for 1 minute or until all mussels are open.
• Add the lemon juice, salt (to taste) and parsley. Stir to combine well. Serve hot.

STEAMED MUSSELS

Steps:

• Rinse the mussels under cold running water while scrubbing with a vegetable brush. Discard any with broken shells. Heat oil in a 6 to 8-quart stockpot. Saute the shallot, garlic and thyme to create a base flavor. Add the mussels and give them a good toss. Add wine, lemon juice, chicken broth and red pepper flakes; cover the pot and steam over medium-high for 5 minutes until the mussels open. Toss in the tomato, parsley and butter, recover the pot, and steam for another minute to soften. The tomatoes should keep their shape. Serve with plenty of grilled garlic bread to sop up the broth.

STEAMED MUSSELS I

Steps:

• Fill a large pot with mussels. Sprinkle chopped onions and garlic over the shellfish. Do not add water, as mussels produce all the water needed for steaming! Cook over high heat until most or all of the mussels open. Discard any that do not open.

MUSSELS IN OYSTER SAUCE

Steps:

• Put the canola oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the ginger and saute for 1 minute, then add the garlic and saute for 2 minutes more. Add the chili paste, soy sauce, oyster sauce, and chicken broth. Stir the ingredients to combine and bring to a simmer. Put the mussels in the pot and steam them with the lid on until the mussels have opened, about 5 to 8 minutes. Pour the mussels with their sauce into a serving dish and garnish with the sliced scallions.

MUSSELS IN BLACK BEAN SAUCE

Steps:

• Scrub mussels under cold water, remove beards.
• Add to boiling pot of water cover and cook 5 Minutes or until mussels open
• Drain, discard any that don't open
• Cover and set to one side.
• Heat oil in a wok
• Add ginger, garlic, onions and chilies, stir fry until fragrant
• Add sauces, water and sugar. Stir to combine
• Add mussels, Cover. Stir occasionaly to heat through.
• Stir in coriander, serve immediately.
• I served mine with a nice side salad.

CHINESE STEAMED MUSSELS

Steps:

• Heat the wok over high heat and add the peanut oil. Add the garlic, ginger, chiles and rice wine and stir-fry for less than 1 minute. Add the mussels and stir-fry for less than 1 minute.
• Add the Chinese beer and the whites of the spring onions and cook until the mussels open, stirring occasionally. Discard any that do not open. Season the mussels with the light soy sauce.
• Sprinkle in the greens of the spring onions and the cilantro, serve immediately.

STEAMED MUSSELS

Steps:

• Wash all the mussels, and scrub them if they seem at all gritty. Scrape away any beard. Chop up the shallots, toss them into a large heavy pot, and pour in the wine. Bring to a boil and simmer for 2 minutes, to reduce the wine slightly, then dump in all the mussels. Cover the pot, and cook over brisk heat until all the shells have opened (if any have remained firmly shut after the rest have opened, discard them). Dish up into a warm bowl as many mussels as your healthy appetite dictates, scatter a small handful of chopped parsley over them, and spoon most of the liquid on top.
• Shell the remaining mussels, and pack them and the broth tightly in a refrigerator container, reserving about a dozen handsome shells.
• I got the idea for these seasonings out of Ken Hom's engaging book Easy Family Recipes from a Chinese-American Childhood. He remembers how his family enjoyed this treat, using chopsticks and accompanying the mussels with a bowl of rice. So, if you want to do the same, get the rice going first (see page 169). Pour the liquid from the remaining mussels into a small pot; you'll want about 1/2 cup; if you haven't enough add some light chicken broth to make it up. Cut a medium clove of garlic into slivers, and scatter them into the liquid. Grate some fresh ginger-about 1/2 teaspoon-directly into the pot, stir in 1/2 teaspoon good curry powder, a splash of dry sherry, 2 teaspoons soy sauce, and a generous pinch of sugar. Bring to a gentle boil and simmer for a few minutes, then fold in most of the remaining mussels (you want to reserve eight to twelve, depending on their size, for the third round). Simmer just long enough to heat the mussels, then spoon them over a serving of warm rice. Sprinkle on a chopped scallion and a tablespoon or so of chopped cilantro or parsley.
• I like to have the remaining mussels bathed in a chilled sauce and returned to their shells. It makes a nice offering if someone stops by for a drink, or just to enjoy alone. Prepare a vinaigrette with 2 teaspoons red wine vinegar, a large pinch of salt, and 2 tablespoons olive oil. Add about 1/4 red pepper cut into small dice, 2 chopped scallions, 1/2 hard-boiled egg, chopped, and a couple of tablespoons chopped parsley (if you have some tarragon, that's good, too). Marinate the reserved mussels in this sauce for an hour or so, or even overnight. Spoon the mussels into the reserved shells; you may want to use two mussels, if they are very small, per shell. Drizzle the remaining vinaigrette over them. Eat by just sucking the mussel from the shell into your mouth.
• Sometimes I prefer my mussels in the shell warm instead of chilled. Recently I noticed them on a bistro menu in Paris served in escargot butter, and I ordered them. They came on an escargot plate, swimming in heady garlic butter, and they were scrumptious-better than snails usually are. So, of course, I've been doing them that way chez moi ever since.
• For the escargot butter: Mash 2 tablespoons butter with 1 fat clove of garlic and 1 shallot, both finely minced, then dried by squeezing them in a towel. Add pepper to taste, and work in about 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley. Then all you need do is tuck one or two mussels, depending on their size, into the indentation in the escargot plate, and top it with about 1/2 teaspoon of the snail butter. Fill up as much of the snail plate as you like, and pop into a 400° oven, cooking until the contents are hot and bubbling-about 5 minutes. If you have any leftover snail butter, it's good on any kind of fish or seafood, and even vegetables. Make double the quantity the next time if you find it's something you want to have handy. You can freeze it, too.