Looks like it is going to be another hot day.

Here is another recipe from my files for an easy meal to prepare when you don’t want to be in a hot kitchen.

Mussels with Spicy Sausage and Tomatoes

Along with the mussels in the photo above, I added clams. You could add some shrimp or calamari rings also. Let your imagination go wild.

Mussels served with hot toasty garlic bread to dip in it’s own seafood broth, is one of my favorite Summer meals.

I hope you try this recipe and enjoy it.

Recipe

Ingredients

2-3 hot sausages – casings removed and broken into 1 inch pieces

2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

2 tbsp. butter

4-5 garlic cloves- sliced

 1 container cherry tomatoes – sliced in half (or 1 cup san marzano tomatoes- roughly chopped)

1 bay leaf

Salt and pepper

4 sprigs of fresh thyme

optional -1 stalk celery or fennel – diced 

1 tbsp. flat leaf parsley – chopped

1 tsp red pepper chili flakes

Lemon slices

1 cup white wine

1 cup vegetable or chicken broth

½ cup heavy cream

2 lbs mussels – cleaned and debearded

Soak mussels in Cold water for 20 minutes to remove sand inside before cleaning and debearding.

Debearding – Scrub grit off the shells of fresh mussels with a stiff-bristled brush, then debeard each mussel, as needed. Remove the beard, the little tuft of fibers the mussel uses to connect to rocks or pilings, by cutting and scraping it with a knife or scissors.

Directions

1. Heat a large stainless steel pan over high heat. Drizzle the olive oil into the hot pan. Add the butter. Add the sausage and cook until browned. Remove from the oil and set aside.
2. ADD the garlic, red pepper flakes, tomatoes, thyme (and celery or fennel-optional). Cook for a few minutes. ADD the wine and cook until the alcohol has evaporated. ADD the broth, season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil
3. ADD the mussels, cover and cook until the mussels have opened- approximately 2-4 minutes… NOTE: Discard any mussels (and clams) that have not opened, they are dead.
4. Plate the mussels in a bowl
5. ADD the heavy cream, sausage and parsley to the sauce and mix well. Pour over the mussels and garnish with lemon slices

Serve with toasted ciabatta garlic bread – Broil the ciabatta slices and then rub a garlic clove over the hot bread to really get the garlic taste.

Clams can be added as well