Mussels recipes

This dish is a hearty meal itself. The puttanesca and fra diavolo in the sauce produce a memorable accompaniment to shrimp as well as mussels, clams or even canned or frozen lobster meat.

The recipe blends equal amounts of gueuze and Chardonnay to make these mussels fragrant, and adds Cajun spices for heat. We suggest a farmhouse ale in the Flemish tradition to pair with the mussels.

This was a common meal in German blue collar working class families. It is still very popular on buffets, and even used to become "hip" recently for people who got bored with mussels, salmon or caviar on buffets. People in old times often did not use ground meat, but ground cheap meat leftovers. This used to be pub food in the very old times in Germany as you could store it for a long time - no fridge was around at that time, only a pantry. It is perfect as a cold snack for long road trips.

This half-soup, half-stew recipe will serve 4 as an appetizer or two as the main course.

Irish Cream of Mussel Soup recipe