A handful of mussels for dinner.
I stopped by the fishmongers stall on Friday.
I hadn’t meant to. I was on my way to buy ice cream. What stopped me was the mussels.
I don’t like mussels, not really. But these were different. They were small, less than an inch, and the most beautiful irridiscent blackyblue. When I got the home I scrubbed them clean, pulled out their beards and let them sit in cold water while I figured out what to do with them.
Thanks to this lovely blog I decided to pan roast them. It’s so indecently easy, just heat your pan up then chuck in your cleaned mussels. You need your pan to be really really hot, and don’t crowd them -the mussels should hiss and steam when they hit the pan. Leave the mussels alone, don’t stir, and in a minute or two they’ll start popping open. Quickly scoop them out as they open and no time at all you’ll have dinner on the table. Melted butter and a generous hand with the seasoning is all you need to complete.
Remember how I said I didn’t like mussels? Well, I’m converted. Pan roasted, pulled off the heat just as they open, the mussels keep all their precious juices and are tender and succulent. But even better than that is the smell. Salty, smoky, seasidey. Close your eyes and just for a second you´re on a beach at a BBQ.
como*solo 
I think I’ve never tried roasted mussels. Hum .. that will be on my summer menu for sure! With salted butter …. MIAM!!
The best meals happen when your ingredients are so damn good that you don’t need to add anything. You’re tempting me to make a visit to D.C.’s waterfront fishmarket myself!
Absolutely Maddie! I am extremely lucky to be in Spain, the ingredients are miles ahead of what I was used to when living in Germany and the UK!
So brave of you to buy something you’ve never tried cooking and take it home without asking anyone – like, the fishmonger – how to prepare it!
Uhm, actually it wasn´t the first time; but the less said about the other time the better!
You continue to inspire me with your cooking for one ideas! I am slowly making the change from special-K dinners to simple salads and the odd full-on meal 🙂 I love your photos too – why is it whenever I take photos of my food they look like the dodgy pics of ‘platos combinados’ that you see in those touristy restaurants?!
Oh Nadya I specialize in people like you! My darling friend Melissa, who is adorable in many many ways, was a complete kitchen-idiot when we first met. Dinner for her was canned spaghetti Os!!! Well, after me pestering and pestering her she can now make my chocolate cake and a kick-ass microwave baked potato. And about the photography, thank you so much for the compliment, but if you look closely you´ll see that I can only take one photo. I stand on my chair and sort of try not to zoom in too close.