Mussels in a White Wine Sauce

Last Wednesday was a great day for a few reasons. The temperature was about 88 degrees and I had nothing to do all day but spend it with my Aunt Leigh and my cousin Oliver. We spent the entire day playing outside. Oliver and I had several water gun fights to cool us down considering the high temperature. However, this day was also a little sad for me. Every week I had been staying with my aunt, uncle, and cousin a few days while taking a food writing class in New York City. Last Tuesday was my last class. I was enjoying all of the time I was getting to spend with them so I was sad it was going to end. That night we decided to do something special since it was the last night I was going to be there for a while. What we decided on was fresh steamed Mussels. I had been craving them for a while and wanted to try my hand at making them. Before my Uncle got home my Aunt and I cut and prepped everything so we would be ready to go when he got home. Our broth consisted of a lot of white wine, chicken broth, garlic, shallots, a little butter, and our favorite fresh herbs. We made four pounds of mussels for the three of us. It sounds excessive but they were so melt in your mouth delicious that we ended up only leaving maybe six or seven uneaten. Oliver even tried a mussel or two. With our mussels we had fresh bread, which is a must to dip in the broth, a side of garlic green beans, and oven fries. Everything turned out awesome. The mussels are extremely quick and easy to make and when cooked perfectly are to die for!

Mussels

• 4 lbs (scrubbed clean and debearded)
• Discard any mussels that are all ready opened, but first poke the mussels with a spoon or fork, if it closes its shell it's still alive and is ok to eat. If not throw it out.
  

Broth

• 3 cups dry white wine
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 4 large cloves garlic, minced
• 3 large shallots, sliced
• 1/2 cup fresh cilantro, torn
  
• 1/2 cup fresh basil, torn

Directions

1. Heat up 2 tablespoons butter over medium high heat in a large pot. Saute shallots and garlic about 1-2 minutes.
   
2. Then add 2 cups of the white wine and let cook for about 8 minutes. Add remaining liquid. Turn up heat so mixture is at a boil.
   
3. Once mixture is at a boil, add in the mussels and cover. Cook mussels for 6-8 minutes, or until they are all open. The mussels can be prepared in two batches if you don't have a large enough pot. Discard any mussels that did not open. When mussels are cooked sprinkle them with the fresh herbs. Move to a serving platter a bowl and serve right away with fresh bread. Enjoy