Braised mussels with tomato-garlic sauce

8
Points®
Total Time
48 min
Prep
15 min
Cook
33 min
Serves
2
Difficulty
Easy
If a spicy fra diavolo-style red sauce appeals to you, simply step up the heat in this dish by adding 1/4 teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes along with the diced tomatoes. Mussels require just a bit of prep before cooking. First, remove any hairy filaments, referred to as the "beard," protruding from the shell. This is how wild mussels attached to rocks beneath the water. Simply pinch the filaments between thumb and forefinger and tug firmly. Farmed mussels available today often have no beards. If the shells look muddy, give them a good scrub with brush beneath running water. Some people wash and save the open mussel shells after eating. If they're a good size, they make a fun container for bite-size seafood appetizers.

Ingredients

Olive oil

1 Tbsp

Red onion

1 medium, chopped

Garlic

4 clove(s), minced

White wine

½ cup(s), dry

Canned diced tomatoes

1 cup(s), with Italian herbs variety

Fresh basil

¼ cup(s), fresh, chopped

Fresh parsley

2 Tbsp, fresh, chopped

Uncooked mussels in shells

1½ pound(s), scrubbed and debearded

Uncooked linguini

3 oz

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 425°F.
  2. Heat the oil in a large, ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion and garlic; cook, stirring occasionally, until slightly softened, about 2 minutes. Add the tomatoes; bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer about 2 minutes. Add the wine; bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer about 1 minute. Remove the skillet from the heat and stir in the basil and parsley.
  3. Add the mussels to the skillet, spooning the sauce over them. Cover the skillet loosely with foil and place in the oven. Bake until the mussels open, 15–18 minutes. Discard any mussels that do not open.
  4. Meanwhile, bring a pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add the linguine and cook according to package directions; drain. Toss the pasta immediately with about 1/2 cup of the sauce from the skillet, then turn onto a warm platter. Top with the remaining sauce and mussels and serve at once. Yields 1 cup pasta with sauce and 2 cups mussels in shells per serving.

Notes

Pasta tends to stick together if left to sit after draining for any length of time. To avoid this, toss it immediately with some of the hot sauce.