Mussel Soup - How To Prepare Mussels

Ingredients:

Mussels
Soup Base
Celery
Parsley
Red Pepper
Onion
Garlic

Step 1:

$5.38 for the main ingredient. Not bad, not bad!

Step 2:

Here's the chicken soup base, and I got about a 1/4 scoop's worth for all of 40 cents.

Step 3:

Wash your veggies carefully and then prep them by slicing and dicing to your heart's content. I used half a red pepper, half a red onion, 7 or 8 sticks of celery, a whole lot of garlic and about a handfull of parsley to fulfill my dish, but you can use more or less depending on what you like and do not like.

Step 4:

Get your sole cooking vessel (a deep pot) ready and find a bit of butter, margarine or oil to cook the vegetables in. I did not factor the cost of butter in as someone in a dorm is bound to have some to borrow from. If you need help, find someone who eats a lot of Kraft Dinner. They'll give you the tablespoon's worth that you need.

Melt it down over medium heat, don't burn it on high.

Step 5:

Add the onions and garlic and stir them around until they smell yummy and get soft.

Step 6:

Then, add the rest of your vegetables but not the parsley unless it's the dried kind. Dry herbs tend to be a bit stronger than they are when fresh and can stand to be cooked a little longer.

Keep stirring so everything gets heated up.

Step 7:

Boil up some water either in a kettle or in a separate pot of water. Empty your soup stock into a heat safe vessel (a measuring cup will do just fine) and add water to it once your water's boiling.

Step 8:

Ensure that the stock has dissolved and dump it into your pot-o-vegetables, which should be full of softened ingredients by now. Add more hot water to the mixture so you've got about 4 cups worth altogether. Add your parsley now too if you've opted to use the fresh stuff.

You can also add a cup of dry wine to the broth if you've got any, although if you're cooking for someone of the opposite sex, chances are you will want to serve it with your dinner instead.

The hardest part of this recipe is now complete, and you can cover the soup and vegetables and leave it to simmer away over low to medium heat.

Step 9:

Take your mussels out of the fridge and clean them off. Sometimes they'll have 'beards' or other sea debris that have to come off before you cook them. They should also be slightly open and will give a bit of resistance when you try to close them, this means that they're alive. Discard any that're cracked, broken, or dead.

Step 10:

Add the musssels to your broth.

Step 11:

And then turn up the heat on your stove to high for about 5 or 6 minutes.

Step 12:

Mussels don't take long to cook at all and they are ready once they open up like this:

Step 13:

You can either serve the mussels with your vegetables in the broth or you can strain it all into a separate bowl. Just be careful not to do this in your sink over the drain...without the bowl.

Step 14:

Ladle a bit of broth into serving bowls and add as many mussels as you can, keeping in mind that there will be a lot left over for seconds and possibly thirds with this meal. Then, put a large bowl (or get a bucket with a garbage bag) out for your empty shells, and serve with salt and pepper.