Mussels in White Wine Tomato Sauce

This meal is one of the most easy and elegant meals I’ve ever made. White wine and mussels provide a heavy dose of French flavor for this classic, with limited ingredients.

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serves 2

  • 4 small/medium sized RIPE tomatoes
  • 1 zucchini
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 1 cup dry white wine
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 tbsp butter
  • 4 sprigs parsley
  • 4 leaves basil
  • 1 tsp chili flakes
  • pinch salt/pepper (to season)
  • 8 crimini mushrooms (cleaned)
  • 1/2 white onion
  • 2 tbsp finely chopped (dry) chorizo or spicy salami
  • 1/2 pound mussels
  • 1 demi-baguette
  • linguine for 2 people
  • 3/4 tbsp caper juice
  1. in a medium sized saute pan heat olive oil and a little butter
  2. chop tomatoes as finely as possible and add them to the pan, add 1/2 cup white wine
  3. add herbs, chili flakes salt and pepper and cook down until it has a paste-y consistency
  4. let cool then remove from pan. meanwhile clean mussels
  5. transfer tomato sauce into a bowl, heat butter and garlic in that pan
  6. slice bread and brush the garlic butter mixture over and toast (in toaster oven)
  7. quarter and slice zucchini, clean and slice mushrooms and chop onions
  8. heat olive oil in a saute pan and cook the veggies
  9. heat water in a pot for pasta, cook linguine according to directions
  10. move the sauteed veggies into another bowl and heat 2 tbsp butter and 1 clove garlic over medium high heat
  11. when good and melted add the mussels, add 1/2 a cup white wine and the caper juice. meanwhile chop chorizo finely and add to tomato sauce
  12. when mussels start to open, add the tomato sauce back into the pan
  13. drain pasta and transfer it to a pot, coating it in butter or olive oil
  14. add veggies back into the tomato-mussel sauce, let cool for a minute
  15. serve over pasta with bread and more white wine

 

© 2015, domenicadreamsofcalamari. All rights reserved.

Seafood Stew

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Seafood Stew is one of those impressive restaurant meals that is actually quite affordable and not too tricky to make at home. Luckily I had a chef on hand to dispel any anxieties I had about cooking shellfish but I assure you, you can do it too.

serves 2

  • 2 1/2 tbsp butter
  • 1/2 yellow onion
  • 3 small smoked dried roasted tomatoes*
  • 1 fennel bulb
  • 1 shallot
  • 1 tomato (fresh)
  • 1 can tomato sauce (from concentrate)
  • 6 large shrimp (cleaned)
  • 1 handful mussels
  • 1/2 lb cod or any white fish
  • 1 1/2 cups dry white wine
  • 1 tbsp capers
  • bread to soak (baguette recommended)
  • 8 leaves homegrown basil
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 1/2 tbsp chopped cilantro (w/ stalks)
  • 1/2 lemon

*if you don’t have dried smoked tomatoes on hand, you should probably get some, but if you can’t find any, a tsp smoked paprika would be a good sub

  1. chop onion and dried tomatoes, dice fennel bulb
  2. in a saute pan melt butter over medium high heat, then add onion, dried tomatoes and fennel
  3. chop and drain capers, dice fresh tomato and add that along with tomato sauce (in batches) to the pan, stirring occasionally
  4. slice basil and add to sauce along with salt and pepper (to taste)
  5. clean any barnacle-y type stuff off of mussels and add to pan, then add shrimp
  6. once mussels start opening, turn heat down to low
  7. in a separate small pan heat olive oil and slice fish filet into 4 pieces and cook over medium heat until it’s browned on the outside and cooked through
  8. dice cilantro and add to the tomato sauce
  9. squeeze juice of lemon over fish and tomato sauce
  10. brush bread with olive oil and toast
  11. plate tomato mixture with fish on top

© 2015, domenicadreamsofcalamari. All rights reserved.

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