I often order mussels when eating out, but I don’t often make them at home and I really don’t know why because they are so easy to make. They need to be fresh from a good source though, because old seafood is just unpleasant to eat.
I liked that this recipe had an Asian twist on them and mussels in miso broth sounded really good, and it was. The broth is also loaded with garlic, ginger and a touch of fish sauce and mirin, so each slurp of mussel had a full burst of flavor. We ate these with toasted baguette slices, which were sooo good dipped in the broth and simple salad.
Before cooking the mussels, you want soak them in some cold water and give them a scrub to remove any grit or stuff sticking to the shells. These were farm raised mussels which have less dirt on them, so there wasn’t really that much to remove. Just a little grit, however, can really ruin the dish, so best to scrub them anyway. As with any seafood in a closed shell, discard any that are broken or that are open and don’t close right up when you tap them. Also, any that don’t open when cooked.
Garlic Miso Mussels
Ingredients
- 4 lbs mussels
- 3 tbsp oil
- 2 tbsp sesame oil
- 1 onion chopped
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- 1 tomato cored and chopped
- 1 tbsp white or red miso
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 1 tbsp chopped fresh ginger
- 1 tbsp fish sauce
- 2 tbsp mirin
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- salt and pepper to taste
- scallions for topping
- chili oil for topping optional
- bread for serving
Instructions
- Soak mussels for 10 minutes in a big bowl of cold water. Scrub each one and remove any beard if left on by tugging toward the hinge of the shell. Place cleaned mussels into another bowl of ice water until cooking.
- In a large pot with a lid that can hold all the mussels, heat the oil over medium and add the onion, garlic and ginger. Cook until fragrant and add the tomato. Stir and season with a little salt and pepper. Add the sesame oil, broth, miso, soy sauce, mirin and fish sauce and stir well. Bring to a boil and add the mussels. Reduce heat to simmer and cover and cook for 8 minutes, stirring once in a while. They should all have opened after 8 minutes. Discard any that didn't.
- Simmer another few minutes to reduce the broth a bit. Taste and season with more salt and pepper if needed. Top with scallions and serve with toasted bread and chili oil.