Mussel

Corsica's finest dishes feature fresh seafood. Here's an uncomplicated and delicious example.

Serve garlic toast with this to mop up all the savory broth.

This recipe can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

When spooned over steamed rice, these mussels could serve four. See how to clean mussels . Active time: 10 min Start to finish: 20 min

Serve this flavorful saffron-scented dish as either an appetizer or a main course.

An entrée from Bar Italia, St. Louis, Missouri. Herbed breadcrumbs top it off nicely.

(Mussels with Garlic Butter) "I can't stand snails of any kind, not land snails, not sea snails. But I'm crazy for the butter that accompanies them." Thus pronounced a shopper who was buying a large sack of shiny black mussels at Marée Daguerre, the fish stand in the shopping street in the rue Daguerre. This recipes is for mussels broiled in the butter that usually accompanies snails. You can cook the mussels in the oven, covered, or under the broiler. Under the broiler, the mussels open quicker and the butter sizzles faster, cooking the garlic. Baked, covered, in the oven, though, they keep more of the mussel liquor. Either way, it's a divine way to prepare mussels.

Sofrito is a sautéed vegetable mixture used as a seasoning in Spain, Italy and Latin America. This recipe can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Paper clips are useful for tightly sealing these simple appetizer packages. Foil is a good substitute for the parchment. (Paper clips are not necessary with foil; just crimp the edges to seal tightly.) Be sure to discard any mussels that do not open.

I usually forget how satisfying it is to eat mussels this way — splashing into the steamy bowl fragrant with spring herbs — until I'm at a restaurant eating them and think, "Mmm, I should make these again, soon."

This recipe can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Tangy beer makes a good match with sweet, briny mussels. Here the brew is seasoned with a spice mixture akin to that used in a Louisiana-style crab boil. Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Prep: 15 minutes
Cook: 15 minutes A simple ragout of shellfish and sausage, so easy to prepare it's almost a heat-and-serve dish. Cook the shallots and garlic, then the sausage, add the wine and rosemary, then the mussels, which will release their juices into the pan, and finish with the parsley and bread crumbs — a rustic, spicy, brothy dish to be eaten with good crusty bread.

This dish from Hotel d'Urville in Blenheim makes delicious use of New Zealand's green-lipped mussels.