Mussels au Gratin, or Cozze al Gratin: Here's an elegant, tasty Neapolitan solution for the problem of dealing with a mound of mussels. Bread and bake them. To serve 6 you'll need:
Prep Time: 24 hours, 30 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Ingredients:
- 5 1/2 pounds (2.5 k) live mussels, washed and purged (see link to instructions below)
- 6 tablespoons bread crumbs
- 2 cloves garlic, grated
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- Salt
- Abundant freshly minced parsley
Preparation:
Scrub the mussels, then shuck them over a bowl, to catch the juices that they give off, and set the mussel bodies in a second bowl. Select the best looking mussel half shells and fill them with mussels (2-3, depending upon the size of the shell).
Preheat your oven to 440 F (220 C).
Mix the bread crumbs with half the oil, the minced parsley and garlic, and season the mixture to taste with freshly ground pepper. Spread the mixture over the mussels, put them in a low-sided oven-proof dish, drizzle the remaining oil over them, and bake them until the bread crumbs brown, about 10 minutes. Divvy the mussels out onto serving plates and serve them at once.
Some people add minced Gaeta olives or vinegar to the topping, while others don't -- Questione di Gusti, a matter of taste.
Preheat your oven to 440 F (220 C).
Mix the bread crumbs with half the oil, the minced parsley and garlic, and season the mixture to taste with freshly ground pepper. Spread the mixture over the mussels, put them in a low-sided oven-proof dish, drizzle the remaining oil over them, and bake them until the bread crumbs brown, about 10 minutes. Divvy the mussels out onto serving plates and serve them at once.
Some people add minced Gaeta olives or vinegar to the topping, while others don't -- Questione di Gusti, a matter of taste.
