White Wine Mussels with Piquillo Rouille Slathered Bread
These quick and easy mussels are flavored with butter and white wine, and served with delicious rouille-slathered toast.
For the longest time I only thought of mussels as restaurant food. In my head it was:
Chicken, beef, pork…cook those at home.
Lobster, mussels, duck, etc….order those at a restaurant.
It seems silly that I once thought of mussels as some scary preparation because they are quite possibly one of the easiest dishes you can make at home, and they usually don’t run any more than $4/lb at the grocery.
Plus, you can put in tons of garlic, chives, and crushed red pepper so you have flavor loaded bites, like this:
Start out by tossing the mussels in a little bit of butter and olive oil, garlic and crushed red pepper flakes:
Shower the mussels with white wine, then cover and let them steam for 5 minutes until open. In the meantime, chop up a handful of oniony chives:
Then, make the piquillo rouille, which is a French sauce often served with fish and bouilliabaise, here made from a piquillo pepper blended up with saffron, olive oil, fresh bread, and garlic:
Serve the mussels in a bowl with some lemon wedges, and crusty bread with the rouille slathered on top.
Here’s the recipe!
White Wine Mussels with Piquillo Rouille Slathered Bread
Ingredients
- 1 lb mussels soaked, cleaned and debearded
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 3 tbsp minced garlic
- 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
- 1 cup white wine (sauvignon blanc recommended)
- 3 tbsp chopped chives
For the rouille:
- 1/2 piece of toast
- 2 tbsp clam juice
- 1 jarred piquillo pepper
- 1 clove of garlic roughly chopped
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 egg yolk
- small pinch saffron about 5 threads
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- crusty bread for serving
Instructions
- Heat up the butter and olive oil in a large saucepan (with a lid) over medium high heat. Add the garlic and red pepper flakes, then add the mussels. Toss around in the garlic butter for 2 minutes, then add the wine. Cover the pan with a lid and cook for 5-8 minutes, until the mussels open. If any of them refuse to open, throw them out, since this means they were dead before cooking. Place the mussels in a bowl along with the broth and sprinkle on the chives.
- To make the rouille: Place the toast and clam juice in a small bowl for a minute or two, until the toast becomes soggy. Place this in a blender along with the piquillo pepper, garlic, olive oil, egg yolk, saffron, and lemon juice. Blend until smooth and creamy. Slather onto bread or stir into the mussel broth. Enjoy!
Nutrition
Nutrition is estimated using a food database and is only intended to be used as a guideline for informational purposes.
28 Comments on “White Wine Mussels with Piquillo Rouille Slathered Bread”
We love home cooked mussels here in the glutton household and this recipe is right up our alley. Beautiful Joanne!
Hi there–looks great, but can you tell me where I can buy the jars of piquillo peppers? I’m in NJ. Thanks, Patti.
Hi Patti, I found it at whole foods, but I would think most groceries should have it. It’s basically just a special kind of roasted red bell pepper, it would be near the jarred olives. Does that answer your question?
Hey, the website’s looking really good by the way! This is a classic too and one I don’t make too often. The bread really puts it over the top.
Looks like a great match with an ice cold beer
These look marvelous. I don’t make them at home either. Pretty intimidating 🙂
Seems so simple, yet so delicous! Must try this soon!
Thanks Kimberly! You won’t regret it, I love making mussels at home =)
Ooh, now I know what I’m doing with my “save for something special,” Saffron. Mom and Dad will definitely appreciate this. Doing this with Pastina tonight! =D
Angie it’s so great to hear from you! HAHA yes saffron is very expensive! Good thing it’s so pungent.
Those sure are plump mussels. Very colorful and tasty dish.
Thank you Norma! Strangely enough this particular batch was the best batch of mussels I’ve ever had. They were so sweet and delicious.
Anything with the word slathered gets my attention! Lovely recipe Joanne!
LOL Martyna, I know what you mean!
I undestrad you, I don’t know why but it’s normal to only cook at home “regular” meet, at home is like that, well, we also cook fish, but no other kind of sea food, unless it’s a special ocassion, in thta case we cook shrimp.
Mussels (“choros”) are very cheap here, my mother used to cook it in soup (“caldo de choros”).
Hi Nydia, That’s definitely one Spanish word I didn’t know, choros! Is shrimp expensive there? I eat it all the time but it’s definitely one of the cheaper seafoods here.
I absolutely adore mussels though enjoy them so infrequently! I’ve got to try this, Joanne. It looks so good and will definitely get me in the mood for my upcoming vacation to Spain!
Thanks Georgia! Where are you going in Spain? I lived there for 4 and a half months…I need to get back there soon!
MUSSELS ARE QUITE POSSIBLY ONE OF MY FAVORITE FOODS! Sorry for the all caps but I’m too lazy to retype 🙂 Anyhow, awesome recipe. Cannot wait to try!
Hi Heidi, Haha you must really like mussels 😉 I love them too! Enjoy the recipe =)
I love mussels and will definitely try this recipe look and sounds delicious!!!
Hi Greg, thanks, I hope you enjoy the recipe!
Looks so delicious and fresh! I’d never tried cooking mussels on my own, but my boyfriend is very adventurous in the kitchen. We’ve cooked something similar a fresh times, but I love your addition of chives and red pepper flakes. Yum, yum!
Thanks Meg, that’s great your boyfriend is adventurous in his cooking! What’s the most adventurous thing he’s made? I want to try doing salmon tartare or something like that sometime…but that’s really scary lol.
Mmmm. I definitely want to make this recipe soon! For whatever reason, I usually don’t do chives with mussels, but I think it’s a brilliant idea! Nice and onion-influenced, and a good departure from parsley.
I’ve always done parsley too but I had some gorgeous chives in the fridge and my Flavor Bible said they go nicely together…and I actually like the chives more! The delicate onion flavor is delicious with the sweet mussels.
Quite possibly one of your most gorgeous photos evah!!!
Thanks Mallory! =)