Ready for a dish loaded
with the taste of the sea, lots of flavor and only a few ingredients?  Something for a dinner party
or celebration, lunch, appetizer? Mussels Marinara will fit that bill...it is a very versatile dish that
will satisfy any hungry diner looking for some great flavors.  Thekey to this dish is keeping your
fussing to a minimum.  Start with a bag of mussels...3-5 lbs will feed 8 people.  Check the label
on the bag and you can see where it was harvested or caught, and the date as well.  Fresh
mussels are available in many markets and when you can find them, grab them.  Those frozen
ones are, well, frozen.  I'd rather wait until I can buy a good bag of Wild Caught live mussels than
use those frozen ones that are already cooked and on the half shell.  Food snobbery on my part,
not really.  It's not 1965 anymore and these products are more available than they used to be.
A sidenote on how I decide what I am making for a meal...I go to the store or market and THAT
will generally determine what I am going to cook.  Yes, I did that mussels on my mind, but if I
couldn't find what I was looking for, the menu would have changed. 

Rinse the mussels under cold water and debeard them, scrub any particles off the shells.  Discard any
which have opened.  Keep them in a bowl in the fridge until your sauce is ready for them.  Now to make
the sauce...unlike Zuppa di Cozze (Mussels) which is make with whole San Marzanos, fresh parsley,
olive oil, white wine...this Marinara is made with Crushed Tomatoes, not the chunky type, water,
LOTS of garlic, olive oil, hot pepper flakes and  a squeeze of fresh lemon. In a Large saucepan heat
3 tbs. of olive oil, then add 6 sliced cloves of garlic.

Open 2 cans of Crushed Italian tomatoes.  Keep the heat on medium, add 1/2 tsp. of salt to the
garlic and after about 1 minute, the garlic should just just just start to turn golden..at this point
add the cans of tomatoes.  But you must wait until the garlic takes on that just golden toasty
garlic flavor..if u wait too long the garlic will burn.  Blend well, and add 1 1/2 cans of water.  Mix
well and let this come to a boil.  Then simmer.  Add a pinch of hot pepper flakes.  When the sauce
has cooked for 1/2 hour, you are ready to add the mussels.  Gently add them and stir.  Bring the
flame up to the boil again, then back to simmer.  Stir.  The shells will start to open.  Cook the
Mussels Marinara for an additional 8 minutes.  Then, turn off the flame and let them sit in the
sauce for a good 5-10 minutes.  Now check for seasoning..sometimes the mussels will add
additional salt to the tomato and you will not need to add any more, or not..let your tastebud be your
guide.  Finally, freshen the whole pot up with the juice of 1/2 of a fresh lemon. Stir.

The traditional way to serve this is in bowls with lots of bread...I served it with slices of
Seeded Semolina bread, brushed with Extra Virgin Olive Oil, then toasted in a hot pan.
Toast till golden brown on the edges, then rub the hot toasted side with a clove of raw
garlic.  A very rustic and traditional way to make a bruschetta. 
  This will become a go-to recipe for
you, these bruschetta are great.  And easy.  And authentic (European) tasting.
An optional way to serve the Mussels would be to serve it over Linguine.  Again, your choice.



and after your feasting on these morsels from the sea, your plates should look like this:


I look for the smallest mussels i can find...my personal taste is not in the larger New Zealand
mussels, the nice 2 inch size are perfect.  These beauties I bought today were Wild Caught
in Maine.  Later in the season the markets will have more local ones for sale.  The PEI
(Prince Edward Island) Mussels from Canada are very good also, they were just too big for
my liking today.  AND, the 2 lb. bag cost 2.99..yes...2.99 for a bag of Wild Caught fresh live
mussels.  Only 6 out of the bags I bought had to be discarded.  And so far, the whole family
has not come down with seafood poisoning.  In fact, they want to know when Daddy is making
them again!