Speaking of recession food, mussels are the original poor man's protein. They are delicious and sophisticated and way cheaper than anything else in the seafood aisle (except maybe squid, but squid is harder to cook). There's almost no way to mess up mussels. Just pick through them, discarding any that are gaping open or broken, and debeard.
Mussels are great just steamed in white wine. Saute a little chopped veg (onion, celery, garlic, whatever you feel) in a tablespoon of butter, add the mussels to the pot, then pour in a cup of white wine and cover the pot. Cook about 8 minutes until they open. Fabulous with fries and mayo, like they do in Belgium. You can vary the feel by changing the vegetables and steaming liquid (e.g., scallion, ginger, lemongrass, hot pepper, steamed with coconut milk). Or try this fabulous and unusual recipe from Paula Wolfert. I adore all of Wolfort's cookbooks, but the one this comes from, The Slow Mediterranean Kitchen, is my favorite.
3 pounds small mussels, cleaned
4 Tbs butter
1 cinnamon stick
2/3 C dry white wine (or vermouth)
1/4 C slivered fresh basil
1/4 C chopped flat-leaf parsley
1 dried long red chile pepper, about 3 inches long
2 tsp tomato paste
2 tsp chopped garlic
3 ounces feta cheese
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 tsp fresh-ground pepper
sea salt
thin slices of buttery garlic bread, to serve
Heat a large nonreactive pot with 1T of the butter until butter sizzles. Add mussels, wine, and cinnamon stick, cover, and cook over high heat until all the mussels open. (Wolfert says this takes 2 minutes, but in my experience it's more like 5. Do your best not to overcook them. There will always be a few that never open and have to be tossed out.)
Put the mussels in a sieve set over a bowl and reserve all the cooking juice. Shell the mussels and throw out the shells. Season the shucked mussels with black pepper and lemon juice.
Wipe out the pan, add another Tbs of butter, and set over medium heat. Add half the basil, half the parsley, and the chile pepper, and cook 1 min, stirring. Add tomato paste, reserved mussel cooking liquid, and garlic. Quickly bring to a boil and cook for 2 minutes, until reduced to 1 cup. Remove from heat, add mussels, and set aside to cool. You can prepare the recipe in advance up to this step and refrigerate until serving time.
About 30 minutes before serving, bring mussels to room temp and soak feta in fresh water to de-salt it. Drain feta and cut into small slices. Cut remaining 2 T of butter into small pats. Sprinkle cheese and butter over mussels and heat slowly until almost boiling. Swirl to mix cheese and butter into sauce. Correct seasoning with salt, pepper, and more lemon juice. (It may not need any salt - mussels are naturally salty.) Serve in bowls with garlic bread sticking out, garnished with remaining herbs. Serves 4-6 as an appetizer, half that as a main course.
