Date Night Dinners: Mussels in a white wine cream sauce

I love making meals that look really impressive and fancy that are actually super easy (and way less expensive than going to a fancy restaurant for dinner).  Cole and I love seafood, but I wanted to make something different than our usual shrimp, salmon or tilapia for dinner a few weekends ago so I decided that I would splurge and make mussels.  For some reason I thought that mussels would be expensive, I'm not sure why. Little did I know, they are actually one of the cheapest types of seafood you can get.  I got 2 lbs from Walmart in the little frozen seafood section for a little more than $3.  That's a good deal in my book.  So, what I thought was a splurge turned out to be a really inexpensive dinner.  I love it when things like that happen.  

Anyway, the mussels I got were already cooked so I just had to boil them in water (in the little bag they came in) for about 5 minutes to warm them up.  I thought it was weird at first, but they turned out great.  

Mussels in a White Wine Cream Sauce

What you need:

2 lbs mussels (fresh or frozen)

5 shallots diced (or 1/2 a large onion)

4-5 large cloves garlic minced

3-4 tsp thyme

1 1/2 cups white wine (whatever kind you like to drink)

2 cups chicken stock

1/2 cup fat free half and half

Extra virgin olive oil

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp cayenne pepper

salt and pepper

What you do:

Saute the minced garlic and shallots in some olive oil in a large pot.  Add the wine and allow it to reduce by half then add the chicken stock, thyme, garlic powder, cayenne pepper, and salt and pepper to taste.  Allow the chicken stock/wine mixture to reduce down, then add the half and half.  Allow everything to simmer together for 10-15 minutes.  At this point, if you have fresh mussels you will add them to the sauce mixture and allow them to cook for 5-7 minutes.  If you're using fresh mussels don't use any that are open before you cook them because that means they are dead..  If they're only slightly open you can tap them against the counter and if they close up they are fine to eat, but if they don't please discard them.  You definitely do NOT want to eat dead mussels.

If you're using frozen mussels like I did, while your sauce is simmering boil the mussels in the bag they came in then transfer them to the sauce and mix everything around in there a little bit.  Whether you're using fresh or frozen mussels do not eat any that aren't open after cooking them.  

I served the mussels over linguini and with homemade french bread (recipe forthcoming, don't worry) and artichokes.  

Artichokes are probably my favorite vegetables.  They are delicious, interactive, and so interesting looking.  I just love, love, love them. 

I was just so pleased with this meal.  I usually am really hard on myself when it comes to judging the food I make, but I was overall very happy with this.  Of course, there are things I will tweak next time I make this, but if it comes out like this every time I make it I will be happy.  

Cole, of course, said he loved it which is not a surprise because he always says that about everything I make (even the time I made a horribly disgusting raspberry white chocolate cheesecake).  He did say that he wished the sauce was a little thicker, which I agree with.  If you use heavy cream instead of half and half that would help thicken up the sauce, but I at least attempt to eat healthy so I think next time I will mix the half and half with a little bit of flour before I add it to the sauce.  That should help thicken it up some without adding more calories and fat.  

Two pounds of mussels was plenty for Cole and I for dinner.  If you were using this as a first course or appetizer you could probably get 4-5 servings out of this amount.  And I guarantee you ladies, if you make this for your boyfriend/husband he will be SO impressed.  It looks like you put a ton of effort into it too, so you can probably negotiate yourself a massage or a trip to Yumilicious Yogurt.  Or both, who knows?