The amount of vinaigrette sauce or the amount of vegetables served with the mussels can be more or less than we recommend here, depending on your taste. As you can see by the photo, we almost completely covered the mussels by doubling the amount on vinaigrette!
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Ingredients:
- 2-1/2 dozen mussel halves, cleaned
- 1 long sweet green pepper
- 1 mild white or yellow onion
- 2 large ripe tomatoes
- 3/4 cup Spanish extra virgin olive oil
- 1/3 cup white wine vinegar
- salt to taste
Preparation:
Serves 6 as an appetizer.
There are two common ways to serve mussels. One is to serve the mussels in their shell on a platter, sprinkling the vinaigrette sauce over them. Normally, the mussels are eaten right out of the shell, without a fork. The second way is to remove the mussels from the shells after cooking and cover them with the vinaigrette sauce, like the photo that appears here. This way you can eat the mussels with a knife and fork instead of your hands.
Fill a large stock pot approximately half-full with water and bring to a rolling boil over high heat. While waiting for water to boil, rinse mussel halves in cold water and allow to drain. Add mussels to pot once water is boiling. Boil for approximately 5 minutes. Remove from heat and drain water. Allow mussels to cool for about 15 minutes. Then, chill in refrigerator for at least 1 hour.
Rinse pepper and cut in half. Cut off stem and remove seeds. Finely chop pepper. Finely chop onion. Chop tomatoes into small cubes of approximately 1/4-inch. Place tomatoes, including juice in a mixing bowl. Add pepper and onions and mix with tomatoes.
Pour oil and vinegar over top of vegetables. Add salt to taste.
Remove “meat” from the mussel shells with a paring knife. Place in a large open serving dish. Add the vinaigrette sauce on top. Serve with a sliced baguette.
