A staple summer dinner at Seven West Park Drive was a massive pot of black mussels cooked in white wine, garlic, and parsley. As kids, we thought this dinner was great fun, using empty shells like tongs to pinch and eat the next mussel, or to scoop and drink the delicious broth, which we’d mop up with whole baguettes.
Mom had a newspaper clipping of the recipe she used for decades, yellowed and stained. She tossed it when she sold the house, along with all her recipes. It was a classic ‘Moules mariniere,’ but no matter how many versions I tried, she swore they were never quite the same. I recently found the original article online. It will still never taste the same unless you are sitting outside on a hot July evening on Long Island, still sticky and salty from a day at the beach.
Mussels in garlic, white wine, and parsley
Ingredients
- 2 pounds fresh mussels
- 1 cup white wine
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons butter
- lemon wedges
Instructions
- Rinse and clean mussels, discard any that are open and won’t stay closed.
- In a large pot, heat olive oil and butter and sauté garlic until just fragrant.
- Add wine and bring to a simmer.
- Add mussels, cover and cook 5 minutes, or until all are open.
- Stir in parsley and serve immediately with lemon wedges and bread.