Roasted Red Bell Pepper Wheat Pasta

Oh, the many ways to make pasta. I religiously read Smitten Kitchen and Sassy Radish food blogs and came across this from Smitten Kitchen. When I’m busy at work and get home late, I want simple, clean dishes that also don’t dirty up a sink-ful of pots and pans. So easy, I omitted a few things, added a few things and needed to add a little protein – ground turkey.

In an effort to cook a little healthier (ha, and pasta’s the answer right?), I started using wheat pasta and maaaaaan, I’m telling you, just not as good. I don’t fall into that dreamy, content state after eating a really good meal, which this SO much better without the wheat pasta. Not saying this dish was not good – it was, but I’m always looking for that oh so perfect dish.

I’ll be conflicted the next time I make pasta. Do I be healthy with wheat pasta and still enjoy a good meal or be naughty use regular pasta to enjoy a great meal? Probably the latter =)

Roasted Red Pepper Wheat Pasta
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen
(4 cooking items: Big pot to cook pasta, pan to cook ground turkey, food processor and bowl to mix)

1 pound of small wheat pasta
¼ pound ground turkey (I wanted to add some meat to this dish so feel free to omit for veggie dish)
Pinch of dried basil (If you decide to go veggie, don't need this)
Pinch of dried parsley (If you decide to go veggie, don't need this)
Pinch of garlic powder (If you decide to go veggie, don't need this)
3 red bell pepper, roasted, skinned and seeded
1/4 cup olive oil
4 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 medium shallot
1 garlic clove
Pecorino cheese (I just had this in the fridge so use whatever cheese you have or you can completely omit)
S&P
***Per Smitten Kitchen, you can also add any type of veggies - peas, broccoli, corn, etc.

1. About 1.25 hours before you want to eat, wash and completely pat dry the bell peppers. Do not cut! Lightly pour olive over them (just a teensy tad) and put in 350 degree oven for 1 hour. I like to turn them at 30 minutes to make sure they are cooked all the way around.

2. 45 minutes into this, start boiling water to cook the pasta. Take the ground turkey and I mix it with the basil, parsley, garlic powder and salt and pepper. Tad of olive oil in pan and cook the turkey completely. Make sure to drain any of the oil when done.

3. Once the bell peppers are done, take then out and let them sit for 5 minutes. I like to cover them with plastic or aluminum to trap the steam which also helps you easily pull the skin off. Complete peel and deseed the bell peppers.

4. Put them in a food processor with the peeled garlic clove and shallot. Give it a good blend. Then add in the red wine vinegar, salt and pepper. I love the taste of red wine vinegar so I tend to put more than what folks like to eat. I think this would be fantastic with some champagne vinegar too. Give another good blend and then slowly pour olive oil into the food processor. This should be a creamy, delicious dressing now. 5. Now, putting it all together! Take a big whopping bowl and put the pasta (drain well), ground turkey and then pour the dressing in portions to see how much/how little you want to add. Sprinkle pecorino cheese on top. Next, take a big whiff of the pasta, grab a glass of wine and enjoy.

Houston Restaurant Week Reviews!

Wow! I’m incredibly slacking on posting new updates. I promise to be better. Really. Today, though, I actually wanted to share my experiences with several restaurants around town during Houston Restaurant Week last month. I hope to do this too with any new places I try. Below are recaps so beware, it’s a long post. First off, Can I just say that Restaurant Week is just frickin fantastic? Good company, good deal, good food – if you don’t get excited about restaurant week, you’re just weird and probably not my friend! Restaurants listed in order that we tried them. Enjoy!

Sullivans Steakhouse
What was even better that Houston Restaurant Week was preceded by Yelp’s restaurant week.
- Mango martini: While perusing the menu prior (durh, so I know what I’m ordering beforehand J ), Susan realized they have some pretty awesome happy hour deals - $5 for special martini? Sign me up! The mango martini that was (lick your lips here...).
- Wedge Salad was pretty delicious but it was a lot. I wish it had a tad more dressing but I was already pretty stuffed after eating a majority of this. On the salad scale, I’d give it a 6. My 10 would go to Maggianos chopped salad which is absolutely delish.
- Filet Medium Rare with mashed potatoes & green beans – Tender. Cooked perfectly. Delicious. Entirely consumed. One of the best filets I’ve had in a restaurant in a long while. Still doesn’t compare to my dad’s steaks though!
- Chocolate mousse with mixed berries
- Hilar moment for me: For the special Yelps menu, you had to call in letting them know you were there for that deal. Otherwise, they gave you a normal menu. So why is this important? We soon realized that a majority of the tables that partook, where large groups of Asians – just like us! Have good, cheap food and Asians will come in waves J

VOICE – Hotel Icon
I’ve come to the conclusion that overall, I’m just not overly impressed with hotel restaurants after going to three in two weeks. VOICE was enjoyed by my dinner club. Again, menu was limited but Linds and I read up on reviews of items and had narrowed down to a few choices prior.
- Carneroli risotto with tomatoes, chives and asiago cheese. It was good but not amazing like Picos in San Francisco. Some of my rice kernels were a little hard. Doesn’t matter, I still ate the entire dish. Linds had the Mushroom Soup Capuccino which I think was a better dish. I had a spoonful and it was delicious!
- coulot Steak sous vide served with Yukon potato cream, charred onions and shallot sauce. The meat was a little mealy and after having Sullivans steak the week prior, this was a tad letdown. I was pretty ravenous (the wait for dishes was incredibly long....a strike) and ate a majority of it. The potato and onions – I didn’t finish.
- Strawberry rhubarb crisp with almond oat streusel and ginger Chantilly cream. I never had rhubarb before so was pretty excited about this dish. Again, it was good but not a dish that I’m going to remember or jot down as a top favorite. I ate about half. If I have a dessert dish and don’t finish – that’s a big deal. J
- Overall impression was mediocre. Thank goodness there was good company and wine J. Setting was nice with big chairs but atmosphere was definitely the feel of an open hotel restaurant. Service was mediocre since it took a long while before we even got our first dish and had to wait a bit in between dishes too. Oh, did I mention the fire alarm that went off but everyone just stayed put? Again, awesomeness.

Rainbow Lodge
I had mixed feelings about this place. Heard rave reviews from several folks. If we didn’t have the off the set menu appetizer, I probably wouldn’t think about going back in the near future. The ostrich was so good, it was enough to make me give this the lodge a second shot. If we didn’t, I think I’d feel like the $35 probably wasn’t all that great of a deal for this place.
- Ostrich was an off the set menu and one of their specials for the day. Um. DELISH. I never had ostrich but so deeeeeelish. If you've never tried, you got-to! Similar to venisen. I think I ate most of it. Poor Ross only had a few bites…
- Garden Tomato Bisque “Chilled” with panzanella salad & basil pistou: one word: Blah.
- Wild Boar Roasted on the Bone w/ spicy fermented cabbage: My first time to have boar! Tasted so much like pork…. Also, so very disappointed in that I had three tiny tiny pieces. I was still very hungry after eating the meat since I didn’t like the cabbage.
- Coffee Crème Brûlée & Cardamom Madeleines: Pretty delicious! But Ross’ Bread pudding was better.
- Overall, atmosphere where you feel like you should be wearing mountain boots and red plaid flannel shirt . Layout of the place is very different. Service was fine. My big disappointment was that servings were so small. I will still hungry after eating this. Come on! We’re in Texas folks, meals come BIG!

Quattro – Four Seasons
Of the hotel restaurants, this was probably the best of the three weeks. Enough for me to recommend this for dinner club? Unfortunately no.
- Olive Oil House Cured Salmon with Fresh Peas, Morel Mushrooms and Tarragon Emulsion was good and not out of the park. Just very fresh smoked salmon which I love so I definitely enjoyed this dish.
- The guys had Cauliflower & Parmesan Gnocco Fritto and I have to say, these were better than my salmon. I was pleasantly surprised by this warm, fried little balls of flavor and juices.
- Grilled Lamb Steak w/rosemary Scented Risotto, Texas Goat Cheese. The goat cheese was kick a**. Love that stuff. YUM. While I usually love risotto, again a few hard kernels. What’s up with that? Lamb – eh, not good enough to leave a lasting impression on me. Still doesn’t compare to the lamb chops at Patranellas.
- Ross had the Oven Roasted Stripped Bass with little neck clams and other stuff. I was actually v. disappointed in this but was happy to tell Ross, I like my dish more!
- Texas Blueberry Crostada for dessert was good not memorable. - Overall atmosphere was again a hotel restaurant. Just not as fun or intimate. Service was good. Valet – not so good. Took almost 20 minutes for them to bring them our car… What up with that?

Feast
Feast is cool. The atmosphere here was kickin - I love houses that peeps have turned into a restaurant. This was another clear winner – I’d definitely come back here especially if you are looking for some hearty, England food and you have no plans of working out that day…
- French Fish Soup with Rouille and Croutons was good if you like fishy soup. Good thing I do but be careful if you don’t!
- Crispy Roasted Pork Belly w/Potato Cake and Red Cabbage with Apples – Oh. Meee. Geeee. So good but I love love love pork belly so you really can’t disappoint me. Also, this dish was enormous. Literally, I made a tiny dent and the leftovers alone were two more meals. Highly rec this if you go.
- Orange tart was okay. I picked out the orange slices and ate the tart alone.

Masraffs
So Masraffs totally took me by surprise! We tried this place several years ago and were definitely not impressed when coupled with the price tag. Didn’t even consider it for restaurant week but Ross’ mom wanted to try and woot, am I glad we did. The best restaurant we went to. It’s definitely on the verge of top five for me right now since this meal was so good. AND cute little Mr. Masraff came by the table to see how we liked the meal.
- Three Mushroom Ravioli w/Truffle Oil and Lemon Sage – it’s hard really to mess anything up with truffle oil and this didn’t disappoint. These raviolis were Ah-Mazing. Only downside – wish I had more b/c I could eat this for my main dish!
- Ross’ Garlic Seared Calamari w/Oyster Mushrooms and Soy Reduction was also surprising. No, no – don’t think of those silly fried calamari. We’re in Masraffs – where they are thick coins of breaded calamari that were again, Ah-Mazing! I’ve never had calamari this way and don’t know where else I would find this
- Paella Risotto w/Diver Scallop, Prawns, Rock Shrimp and Texas Dry Sausage Stewed in Saffron Stock with Carnarolli Rice. So good!
- Warm Triple Berry Bread Pudding w/White Chocolate, Blueberry Compote and Cream Cheese Mousse. I was SO full but managed to be a team player and finish this entire dish. Beware for those ordering this dish though – that fluffly, creamy blob of goodness sitting next to the bread pudding, not cream but cream cheese. A tad too much for me and I think they should have omitted this.

Easy Chicken Drumsticks w/Ginger Apricot Marinade

Chicken is one of the easiest things to cook. I also love that it is so versatile. I had several drumsticks defrosting in the fridge and came across this recipe from Sassy Radish. Voila! Dinner of ginger apricot chicken is it!

What’s my favorite chicken dish? Wingstop lemon pepper chicken wings with their fries that are sprinkled with salt and sugar. Who knew sugar on fries could be so good? Ugh, I can’t tell you how much I love fried chicken wings. If I could eat these at least once a week without gaining any weight, hands on, I would. Heck, I’d eat them twice or three times a week.

This dish is fast and most importantly easy. I can make the marinade the night before and then when I get home from work, just pop them in the oven and cook some rice. 30 minutes later, I have a delicious dinner!

I suggested this dish to my sister who was not as big a fan as me. However, she didn’t pour the marinade with the chicken in the pan to cook. I think that makes a big difference. Not only does it help with a great glaze coating, but I opened and spooned the marinade over the chicken twice while I was cooking. Again, can I say YUM?

Apricot-Glazed Sriracha Ginger Chicken
From Sassy Radish who loosely adapted from Gourmet

1. For ingredients, click here for list. The only difference I did was use a different type of hot sauce instead of Sriracha and I only used drumsticks.

2. Peel garlic and ginger. Add to food processor and chop, chop! Add the apricot jam, soy sauce, water and hot sauce. Grind until well blended.
3. Wash and dry the drumsticks. I can’t tell you how important it is to rinse meat you buy from the grocery store. You never know what’s it has gone through. Put in plastic bag and add the marinade. Let sit for at least an hour. I usually like to do it the night before and let it sit overnight.

4. Oven to 400 degrees. Put chicken and the marinade into pan. Bake for 30 minutes. I checked at 10 minutes and spooned some of the marinade on top. Did it again at 20 minutes. Make sure chicken is done at 30 minutes – cook longer if it’s still a tad pink or if you poke it with a knife and red juices come out, cook another 5 minutes or so.
5. I served this with rice, which is good to balance out the sweetness of the chicken. Next time, these would go very well with some green beans.

Lobster and Corn Chowder

I have wanted to try this recipe for a long time but since this is such a decant recipe, I needed several mouths to feed. Last weekend, my sister and soon to be brother-in-law came into town to celebrate Chinese Father’s Day and this was a perfect chance for me to make this dish. It definitely didn’t disappoint but man, was it a lot of work! Similar to mussels in white wine, dipping toasted French bread into the soup was even yummier. This wasn’t the healthiest dish either…..with lots of cream and whole milk, but isn’t that alway the case? Mmm hmmmm.

Would I make this again? I don’t know if this was worth the time or if I did something that was way too complicated. If I can buy pre-cooked lobster, that would probably shave 30 minutes off the prep time, but, the real time consuming part was extracting all the meat from the shells. This took us another 25 minutes and there were three of us too! Also, this was a pricey meal so not sure I’d make this again unless it was a very special occasion. And, while this was so good, you probably need a side dish as well.

So….I probably won’t be making this for a while and I wish I had a team to help prep food because, Barefoot Contessa, you made this look waaaaay too easy!

Lobster and Corn Chowder
Recipe by Barefoot Contessa

1. Click here for the ingredients. I’m not posting since this was my first time to make it and didn’t change a thing. Clean the lobsters with a quick scrub and remove the bands on the clinchers. In a big pot, add some water and put the lobsters in to steam for roughly 15 minutes. I reserved the water/broth for later. Take them out and cool for 10 minutes.

2. Take all the mean from the lobsters – shells, claws, everything – and don’t throw away the shells. One tip for the small legs instead of wasting them, I use a rolling pin and start from one end and roll out the meat to the tip – a tip from Alton Brown (love him!). Use the back of a knife on the claws. Cute the meat into big chunks.

3. Cut corn from cobs and keep kernels for later and cob for the next step. In a big pot, melt butter and add the onions until glassy. Add the sherry and paprika. Add the milk, cream, wine, lobster shells, corn cob and bring to a simmer. Cover with a small peek and let it cook for a good 30 minutes.

4. After 15 minutes, start another big pot and brown the bacon (I used Pancetta bacon). Take the bacon out and then add the potatoes, onions, celery, corn kernels, salt and pepper. Cook for maybe 5-8 minutes until smells all yummy.

5. So take the stock and remove all the shells and cobs. I drained it slightly to not get any shells.
6. I also added in roughly two cups of the lobster broth (from when I boiled/cooked the lobster) and cooked for another 10 minutes. Add the stock to the veggies pot and let it cook for another 15 minutes until potatoes are done.
7. Add lobster, chives (which I didn’t do) and bacon. Now enjoy with the rest of the wine that you didn’t use for this dish!

2:1 - Lemon Arugula Pasta w/Herb Pork Chops

Ahhh…. Lazy weekends are always a good refresher. Had the luxury of waking up late, making some quality coffee and enjoying morning shows while lounging on the couch. Before I knew it, it was almost one and we hadn’t had any lunch! While Ross went out on a search for sandwiches, I remembered I had some thick pork chops in the freezer – there’s dinner!

Pork chops are tricky. Depending on the thickness you have, they can overcook in a blink of an eye and then who wants hard, chewy pork? Not me and certainly not Ross! During my last trip to the grocery store, I was surprised to see thick (roughly 1.5 inch) pork chops. They’re usually sliced thin, so I was extremely excited about getting something a little meatier and had high hopes to actually cook it perfectly.

How have I cooked pork chops in the past? Hrm….not well apparently. I typically season with salt and pepper and then pan cook them until they’re done – slice and had with veggies and rice. I’ve crusted them in bread crumbs mixed with seasoning and pan cook – these actually turn out pretty tasty. Or I’ve buttered, S&P and herbed them and popped in the oven, which are not as good since my oven can get testy and before you know it, it’s already overcooked before the allotted six minutes! The trick is trying to cook them but keep all the yummy juices inside the meat until right before you cut a piece to eat – hasn’t happened for me in a long time.

So, not surprisingly, the recipe I used was from Giada. She had a recipe for a dry herb rub pork chops topped with onion marmaletta. I know I was cooking for Ross too but really, I can’t make something I know I don’t like so the onion marmaletta went out the door. Sorry Ross! The only thing I did differently (simply because I didn’t have it) was omit the rosemary but I substituted for dry oregano instead. The pork chops turned out beautifully! They had a ton of flavor, were juicy and complemented the citrusy pasta I made as well.

Well, pasta goes well with almost any meat in my opinion. I had lemons and arugula/spinach I needed to use so why not a recipe with all of it? Simple and from my other favorite Food Network cook – Ina Garten. You can really taste the citrus in this pasta - gives it a little zang! which I loved.

Herb Crusted Pork Chops
Original recipe by Giada
Serves four
Since I didn’t change a good portion of her recipe, I’m not posting the ingredients. You can check it out here but I’ll walk through what I did below. I cooked it a little differently but the ingredients were almost the same – minus the rosemary.

Combine dry oregano (recipe called for rosemary but I didn’t have), fresh thyme lightly chopped, garlic and S&P. Make sure your pork is cleaned, rinsed and dry. Rub the herb mixture all over the pork, both sides. I let it sit for roughly 15 minutes (you should probably do longer but Ross and I were getting hungry!).
Heat your grill. With a paper towel, pour a little bit of oil and then rub paper towel over the grill.

Grill the pork chops for seven minutes on each side. Since I used my inside grill, I actually put a bowl over the pork chops while they were cooking to help trap the heat and cook a little better – like a real grill! I like to let it sit for just a few minutes to let it cool slightly and to keep the juices locked in. I put them on a plate and covered again with a bowl to keep the heat in.

I didn’t have parsley so didn’t use that. I made a balsamic reduction – just heat on low, balsamic vinegar until thick. Pour just a little bit on top of pork. Or not. The pork chops were actually really tasty that it didn’t need anything else. Pairs well with citrus pasta.

Citrus Pasta
Original recipe by Ina Garten with my adaption

1 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves minced garlic
1 pint heavy cream
2 lemons (zest and juice)
1 orange (zest and juice)
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp flour
S&P
½ lb angel hair
1/2 pound baby arugula & spinach mix
1 bunch of fresh chopped basil
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan

1. In pan, heat olive oil, add garlic and cook until you smell it and right before it gets really brown.
2. Add the cream, lemon zest and juice, orange zest and juice, S&P (as much as you’d like so taste test while cooking).
3. Let it come to a small boil and then reduce for 10 minutes. Heat up the butter in microwave and then add the flour. Mix until paste. Add this to the cream mixture to make sure it is incorporated completely.
4. Bring pot of water to boil to cook the pasta – I did this a tad too early so had to let it sit while I made the cream sauce. Recommend that you start cooking right when you leave the cream mixture to simmer for 10 minutes. 5. When cream is thick, add pasta, arugula, spinach and basil to pasta and then the cheese. Mix thoroughly and then eat!

Roasted Cornish Hen with Fingerling Potatoes

Cluck cluck cluck! Like everyone else, chicken is the main meat I eat. So really, how many ways can you cook chicken? Apparently, more than I thought. Searching chicken on food network returned 7,000 results. Hrmph, who knew chicken was THAT interesting? A tad overwhelmed at trying to figure out what I should do differently with the two cornish hen I had....I just realized, you know - I haven't perfected a roasted chicken recipe.

A dash of seasoning, salt, pepper, etc. and pop it in the oven and voi-la, you're suppose to have perfect chicken? Sorry sir, not me. There's always something that is slightly wrong each time - too dry, not enough flavor on the entire chicken, burnt wings, etc. So this is the third attempt and I think I got it.

Roasted Cornish Hens with Fingerling Potatoes

1 or 2 cornish hen

two lemons sliced into quarters (de-seeded)

fresh basil

thyme

2 tbsp melted butter

entire garlic bunch

s&p

olive oil

fingerling potatos

1/4 cup chicken stock

Tony's seasoning (durh, if you read my blog you know I LOVE this stuff...)

Wash and pat dry the two cornish hens. Season the inside cavity of the hens with pepper and a sprinkle of tony's seasoning. Let it sit in the fridge for around 3 hours (overnight is better). Take the chicken out of the fridge - let it warm up on counter for about 20 minutes. Pre-heat oven to 375.

Slice the entire garlic bunch in half horizontally and then in half. I also like to smoosh each portion a little to get the garlic juices going. Zest the two lemons. Slice into quarter and make sure to deseed (but do not squeeze!). In a bowl, toss that with the sliced quarters garlic bunch, lemon zest and a quick dash of olive oil (roughly 2 tspn). Add basil and thyme. Stuff this into the cavity of the two cornish hen. Place hens in an oven safe pan. (I bet for a chicken - you can add other veggies like onions, carrots, bell peppers.)

Melt butter in microwave and once melted, use a brush and quickly brush skin of the hen. Season all over with salt and pepper. (I was tempted to season with tony's again, but I know I can overdo it at times. Ha!).

Wash and dry the fingerling potatoes. Slice in half. Lightly season with salt and pepper. Add these to the pan. Pour chicken stock in the pan and pop into oven for 1 hour (For chicken - would think you'd keep in there for 1 and 1/2 hours). I covered the chicken lightly (don't fold down sides) with aluminum foil. After 45 minutes, I took it off and let it cook uncovered. You'll notice there greens mixed with the potatoes - I had lots of leftover basil so I chopped and just tossed it in there. Added to the aroma but not really the taste of the potatoes in my opinion.

Take out and let it cool. Don't cut into it right away. By letting it cool, you make sure that the juices say in. Now, after patiently staring at the hen and all its golden brown goodness, get a plate, knife and chow down!

Mussels in White Wine (Half Fail)

So this is my first time making this dish and instead of following one recipe, I go and combine three... While not a complete fail - very much edible and enjoyable, just not that throw down, omg moment, this is the recipe, I want to drink the sauce and eat bread forever kind of meal - I should have just stuck with one recipe and then adapted from there.

Anyways, why did I make this dish? Father's day of course. I actually wanted to cook lobster for my old poppers but the store ran out. They did, however, have a good selection of mussels. Mussels are interesting. Whiledirections usually say as long as they are closed or if they are open and when you touch them and they close - they're alive. I dunno, it still made me a little nervous that a single shell would ruin the entire dish - so making this dish added a few spurts of anxiety and anticipation as I waited to the end to find out if all the mussels were perfectly fine.

I couldn't find one recipe that sounds so delicious that I wouldn't change anything. Some recipes sounded good but they had random ingredients that my frugal self wouldn't purchase - like saffron, for instance - or had a variety of herbs that I thought would make this a tad overwhelming. I also didn't have a recipe with me in the store - since this was a spur of the moment decision - so I basically just bought ingredients I thought it would go well with. Ha!

After making it, I realized I did several things wrong. I didn't buy enough mussels to begin with (I only bought 1 lb instead of the recommended 3 lbs) so there wasn't enough shellfish flavor to balance out the amount of white wine (1 cup). As a result, the wine flavor was a little too overwhelming. I also cooked this a tad longer than I should have, especially after pouring in the wine which can start having a tart/tangy flavor than that sweet flavor you get with this dish. I'll try this again in a few weeks with some changes so watch out for the next time I make this!

Mussels in white wine sauce
Random variation off three recipes and whatever veggies I had around the kitchen
Serves 3

3 pounds mussels (I used 1 lb....mistake #1)
1/3 cup flour
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup chopped shallots (5 to 7 shallots)
1 cup chopped leeks (1 large leek - only the white and light green parts)
Dry basil - just a dash for seasoning
Dash of Italian seasoning
1 1/2 tablespoons minced garlic (5 to 6 cloves)
4oz can of chopped tomatoes
1 cup good white wine (I used La Crema Chard)
S&P to taste


Clean the mussels, put them in a large bowl with water and flour. Soak for at least 30 minutes so they get rid of any sand/dirt. Drain the mussels, then remove the "beard" from each with your fingers and make sure they're clean.
In a large pot, heat the butter and olive oil over medium heat. Add the shallots and cook for 5 minutes; then add the garlic and leeks and cook for 3 more minutes, or until the shallots are translucent.


Add tomatoes, herbs and S&P
Add wine and bring to a boil

Add the mussels, stir and then cover the pot. Cook for about eight minutes or until the mussels are open. Mistake: I cook waaaay too long by letting it boil for almost 15 minutes.

Serve with toasted bread to soak up all that sauce and enjoy!