Black Skillet Mussels Recipes

BLACK SEA BASS AND MUSSELS A LA NAGE

Steps:

• Bring a medium pot of water to a boil and season generously with salt. Add the fava beans and cook until tender, about 5 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the beans to a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking. Peel off the black eyelets from the bean's shells. Squeeze and pop the beans from their shells. Transfer the beans to a bowl.
• Add the asparagus and peas to the water and cook until tender, about 4 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the vegetables to the ice water to stop the cooking and drain. Transfer the vegetables to the bowl of beans.
• Preheat the oven to 200 degrees F.
• Rub the inside of the skillet with the 1 teaspoon of butter and sprinkle with the shallots. Generously season the fish all over with the salt and pepper, and arrange the fillets, skin-side up, in the skillet. Scatter the mussels over the top and pour in the vermouth and water. Cover the skillet and bring to a boil. Turn the heat to low and cook until the mussels have open (only uncover the skillet once or twice). Remove the skillet from the heat and let rest, covered, until the fish is just cooked through, about 6 to 10 minutes.
• Transfer the fish and mussels to a baking pan, leaving the broth in the skillet, and keep warm in the oven. Meanwhile, bring the broth to a boil, add the vegetables and whisk in the 4 tablespoons of butter, little by little, until fully incorporated. Whisk in the herbs.
• Divide the fish and mussels among 4 wide, shallow soup plates or bowls. Divide the broth and vegetables among the plates and serve immediately.

BLACK PEPPER MUSSELS

Steps:

• Put mussels and 1/4 cup water in a large skillet. Season with 1 teaspoon pepper. Cover, and cook over high heat, stirring once, until mussels open, 2 to 3 minutes. (Discard unopened shells.)
• Transfer mussels to a serving bowl. Season with remaining teaspoon pepper, and drizzle with oil. Serve immediately with lemon wedges.

BLACK SKILLET MUSSELS

Steps:

• Heat a large cast-iron or heavy steel skillet over high heat for about 5 minutes, or until a few drops of water dance across the surface. Add the mussels to the skillet in one layer (your pan may fit more or less than 1 1/2 pounds; use only as many as will fit comfortably or use 2 pans).
• Cook, shaking the pan occasionally, until the mussels begin to open. The mussels are done when they're all open and their juices have run out and evaporated in the hot pan. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and serve immediately, in the pan.
• Variations
• Black Skillet Clams or Oysters: This dish can be made with hardshell clams-littlenecks, cherrystones, or quahogs-or with oysters. (Softshell clams, or steamers, are too sandy for this treatment.) Be sure to wash the shells of any of these mollusks very well and discard any whose shells are open or cracked. As with the mussels, they are done when their shells open.
• To add a slightly different flavor:
• When the mussels begin to open, add 4 cloves of crushed, peeled garlic to the pan, shaking the pan as directed.
• Gently melt 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter in a small saucepan. (If you like, add Tabasco or other hot sauce to taste, along with the juice of a lemon.) Serve it alongside the pan of mussels. To eat, remove a mussel from its shell, dip into the butter, then rub up some of the dried juices from the bottom of the skillet.
• Mussels
• Every year, we see more and more cultivated mussels, most often from Prince Edward Island, which is fast becoming the mussel farming capital of North America. These are easy to clean (almost clean enough to eat without washing, but still worth a quick going over), with very few rejects and plump meat. Wild mussels are far tastier but harder to clean. When cleaning mussels, discard any with broken shells. If the mussels have beards-the hairy vegetative growth that is attached to the shell-trim them off. Those mussels that remain closed after the majority have been steamed open can be pried open with a knife (a butter knife works fine) at the table.

GRILLED MUSSELS WITH CRACKED BLACK PEPPER

Steps:

• Scrub the mussels, rinse in several changes of water and trim the beards, if any.
• Heat a large skillet (cast iron is best) over high heat -- a DRY skillet.
• When the skillet is very hot, put all of the mussels into it and shake the pan.
• The mussels will begin to open immediately. It will sound almost like popcorn. This is the mussels opening up and releasing there juices into the hot pan.
• Continue shaking the pan until all the mussels have opened. This should not take any more than 5 min at the most. They cook quickly and you don't want to overcook them.
• Remove from the heat and season GENEROUSLY with black pepper.
• Transfer the mussels in the skillet to a table or spoon the mussels into individual bowls.
• Serve immediately.

BLACK PEPPERED MUSSELS

Steps:

• Place the mussels in a medium skillet. Grind half of the pepper over mussels. Cover, and place over high heat. Cook until the mussels open, 1 1/2 to 2 minutes. If there is not enough liquid released from the mussels it may be necessary to add a few tablespoons of water to steam the mussels.
• As soon as the mussels have opened, transfer to a serving bowl. Grind remaining pepper over mussels. Serve with lemon wedges and a drizzle of olive oil. Serve immediately.