Mussels In Red Sauce

Oh, dear blog, I have missed you!!!  It's not that I don't cook anymore.....or take pictures of what I cook either!  It's just been a busy spring and summer in my mortgage world and I just haven't had a spare moment to spend time with you!  But today I was determined to start emptying my picture files and filling yours up!

So, yesterday was a "Cola" day....and I did what I most love to do and visited my fave mall....MacArthur Mall in Norfolk!  I visited all of my favorite stores and bought nothing!  So, to soothe my woes and rest my feet, I stopped in at Kincaids for a glass of wine and a bite to eat.  It was after 3, so I hit happy hour!!  I had a glass of chardonnay and a bowl of mussels in red sauce.....and it was fabulous!!!!

On the way home, I stopped at Harris Teeter to grab some grub for the week and they had mussels for $3.99 a bag, so I decided to try to duplicate this recipe sometime this week!  Well, Dennis saw the mussels in the fridge this morning and got excited, so I decided to try them today!  Mussels two days in a row?  Score!

I gathered my ingredients.....mussels (of course!), garlic (fresh!!!), basil (homegrown), onion, oregano (not fresh....mine didn't survive for some reason!), crushed red peppers,olive oil, red wine and San Marzano tomatoes (believe it or not, I'd never cooked with them before!).

I diced the onions (I guess it was about 1/3 cup)....

and crushed 6 cloves of garlic.

I heated my beloved dutch over, poured in about 2 tablespoons of olive oil and let that heat....then I added the onions and garlic and let them cook slowly, while stirring....just until they are softened.  I then added about 1 teaspoon of oregano, 1/4 teaspoon of crushed red peppers and let those flavors blend.

Next I opened the can of San Marzano tomatoes....(oh wow!  They ARE fabulous!)....poured those in and let them warm up a bit...then I added about 1 cup of the red wine and let the sauce simmer on low for about 1/2 hour. 

While the sauce was doing its thing, I did mine.....I cleaned and sorted through the mussels.  Make sure you throw out any mussels that will not close when tapped and also scrub them well and rinse several times.

I also picked some fresh basil.....

....and diced into a chiffonade by stacking the leaves.....

....rolling them up.......

...and slicing them into thin strips.

Now back to the sauce.....I added the basil at this point....

..time to add the mussels.....

....and settle them into their warm bath!

I let them cook on a low simmer for about 10 minutes.....then I scooped them into a bowl and added minced fresh parsley....

....poured a glass of wine and savored every last mussel....ummmm....morsel!!!

I love mussels and typically make them with white wine, garlic, shallots and butter....but this was delicious!!!  I'll make these again...and again...and again!