Green mussels in shells recipe in the oven. Recipe for mussels in shells in the oven

Mussels are relatively inexpensive but very healthy shellfish. Despite the fact that they are called "oysters for the poor", the dishes from them are very tasty. Today, shellfish can be purchased both peeled and in shells. Many prefer the second option, since in the process of cooking clams in shells, it is easy to find and discard all stale ones. Of course, in this case, you need to know how to cook mussels in shells correctly. Today, the subtleties of this technology are familiar not only to chefs of elite restaurants. Many housewives easily cope with the task at home.

Features of selection and preparation

In order for a dish of mussels in shells to turn out tasty, healthy and safe, you need to know the basic rules for their selection and preparation.

• When choosing fresh or frozen mussels in shells, preference should be given to large ones, since there will be very little valuable meat in small ones - with a bean seed.
• Carefully consider mussels when buying. You can take only mollusks, the shells of which are not damaged and closed. Damaged shells usually occur if the product has been repeatedly frozen and thawed. Open shells indicate that the mollusk is sick, dead, or simply very stale. If you buy fresh mussels, you can try to knock on the sink - if it closes, then everything is in order, the mussel is alive, and you can safely take it and cook it.
• If you are going to cook frozen mussels in shells, they must first be thawed. Let them thaw in the refrigerator. So the mollusks retain their beneficial properties better.
• Mussel shells must be cleaned until smooth before cooking. This can be done with a dull knife, with which the shells should be scraped well.
• Before washing, mussels can be dipped in cold water for a couple of hours. In this case, it will be easier to wash them from sand. In addition, this procedure will help to immediately get rid of dead mollusks: the living ones will go down to the bottom, and the dead ones will remain on the surface.
• Mussels in shells can be boiled, stewed, baked in the oven. Regardless of the method of preparation, it is important to select and discard mussels whose shells have not opened after 5-7 minutes of cooking. This indicates the staleness of the product, and it is easy to get poisoned by the missing mussels.
• To improve the taste of mussels, you can boil and stew them with the addition of wine, lemon juice, tomatoes, milk, garlic sauce, dill, pepper, celery. The choice of one or more of these ingredients depends on the recipe.
• Serve the mussels with the top of the shell removed. You can remove the clam from the bottom of the shell with a fork. In some restaurants, when serving mussels, the table is served with tongs. They are needed in order to grab the removed part of the shell and use it to extract the clam meat from the rest.

Mussel meat goes well with white wine. If you offer these clams to guests, it does not hurt to put a bottle of white wine on the table.

How to cook boiled mussels in shells

• mussels in shells - 2 kg;
• water - 1 l;
• lemon - 1 pc.;
• salt - 20 g;
• ground black pepper - to taste.

• Dip the mussels for half an hour in cool water, remove, brush on all sides with a brush, scrape with a knife and rinse in running water.
• Wash the lemon, cut it in half, squeeze the juice out of it. Remove the bones that have fallen into the juice. Pour the juice into a thick-walled saucepan.
• Pour a liter of cold water into the pan, add salt and pepper, stir.
• Put clean mussels in shells into the pan. Place the saucepan over medium heat with a lid on.
• When the water boils, wait 5 minutes and check the mussels. Remove clams whose shells have already opened from the pan.
• Re-check the readiness of mussels after 2-3 minutes. Remove the opened ones from the pan, discard the unopened ones.

Serve boiled mussels immediately after they are cooked. From drinks other than white wine, beer is suitable for them.

You can cook mussels in water mixed with dry white wine. The optimal ratio of these components is 1: 1. The taste of ready-made mussels in this case will be completely different, more delicate and refined.

It is not necessary to ensure that the liquid completely covers the clams during cooking. Mussel shells open with steam.

You can cook any mussels according to the above recipe: both frozen and fresh. They can be eaten right away, but are often used to prepare other dishes. Including salads.

How to cook stewed mussels in shells

• garlic - 5 cloves;
• water - 1 l;
• lemon - 1 pc.;
• fresh parsley - 50 g;
• ground black pepper - to taste;
• salt - to taste;
• butter - 50 g;
• drinking cream - 150 ml.

• Clean and rinse the mussels well. Put them in a saucepan.
• Fill with water, squeezing the juice of one lemon into it, adding a little pepper and salt.
• Put the pan on high heat and wait until the mussels begin to open. Take them out as soon as the shell opens. Instances that did not have time to open in 7 minutes will have to be thrown away.
• Remove the top of the shell from each mussel.
• Put the clams in a frying pan, after melting the butter on it.
• Pass a clove of garlic through a press, pour over the cream, stir.
• Pour garlic cream sauce into the pan with mussels. Put it on medium heat. Simmer the clams for 5 minutes.
• Remove the mussels from the sauce and place on a platter.
• Wash, dry, finely chop the parsley with a knife, add to the creamy garlic sauce. You can add pepper and salt. Stir.
• Pour the prepared sauce over the mussels.

Mussels stewed in a creamy garlic sauce can be served in portions.

Fresh mussels baked in shells

• fresh mussels in shells - 1 kg;
• fresh tomatoes - 0.3 kg;
• stale bread - 40 g;
• olive oil - 20 ml;
• garlic - 2 cloves;
• parsley - 1 sprig;
• carnation - 1 pc.;
• salt, pepper - to taste;
• water - 0.5 l.

• Pour water into a saucepan. Put in it peeled and washed mussels in shells.
• Put the pot on high heat. Wait for the shells to open. Remove the tops by removing the mussels from the pan and cooling slightly.
• Crush the garlic.
• Pour boiling water over tomatoes, peel off the skin. Grate the tomato pulp, chop with a blender or rub through a sieve. Mix with garlic.
• In a mortar, grind salt, pepper, cloves.
• Grate stale bread, add to tomato puree.
• Put the spice mix in there.
• Add olive oil, stir.
• Place the mussels, shell side down, on a baking sheet lined with parchment. Place the tomato mixture on each mussel.
• Preheat the oven to 180 degrees and place a baking sheet in it.

After 10 minutes, the mussels baked in tomato sauce are ready. Most often, fresh mussels are prepared according to this recipe, but it can also be used for frozen clams.

Mussels baked in shells with cheese

• large frozen or fresh mussels - 1 kg;
• hard cheese - 120 g;
• mayonnaise or sour cream - 100 ml;
• lemon - 0.25 pcs.;
• garlic - 2 cloves;
• water - 0.5 l.

• Wash thoroughly, clean the mussels, cover with cold water and put on a strong fire.
• Boil 7-8 minutes. Throw away any unopened shells. Cool the rest.
• Remove the mussel meat, cut each into 3-4 pieces.
• Place the mussel meat in a bowl. Squeeze lemon juice on them.
• Add garlic, sour cream or mayonnaise passed through the press to the mussels, mix.
• Fill the sinks with the mixture.
• Finely grate the cheese, sprinkle it with shells.
• Fold the shells on a baking sheet and send to bake for 5 minutes in an oven preheated to 200 degrees.

The dish prepared according to this recipe can be called exquisite. It will perfectly decorate the festive table.

Do not be afraid to buy mussels in shells. It's easy to cook them at home. At the same time, the appearance of the finished dish and its taste will almost certainly impress your guests.

Mussels are extremely healthy, tender and delicious shellfish. Dishes with mussel meat can be found in the cuisines of many countries. Rich in vitamins and minerals, useful mussels strengthen the immune system, stimulate metabolism. There are many cooking options - they are boiled, stewed in sauces, fried in oil, salads and snacks are prepared. In countries far from the sea coast, few people know how to properly cook fresh mussels, the easiest and most nutritious way is in shells.

To cook fresh mussels in shells, you will need:

• Mussels in shells, always fresh - 1 kg;
• Water - 1 l;
• Salt and spices;
• Juice of 1 lemon.

Rinse the mussels thoroughly, remove growths, algae residues, sand, limestone deposits from the shells with a knife. In this case, ajar shells must be thrown away. The doors of fresh and edible mussels should be tightly closed. Boil water, add salt, spices and lemon juice to it. Place the prepared mussels in a large saucepan with a small amount of boiling water - the tops of the shells should remain on the surface. Cook the mussels for about 5 minutes, during which time their wings should open and the meat should be cooked. We take out only opened mussels from the water, discard unopened ones. Ready meat is suitable for salad, it can be taken out, put in one of the wings and sprinkled with lemon. A very tasty recipe for mussels in shells stewed in garlic or wine sauce. You will need:

• Mussels in shells - 1 kg;
• Lemon - 1 pc;
• Olive oil - 80 ml;
• Garlic - 5 cloves;
• Salt, spices;
• Greens - dill, parsley.

Mussels must be washed well, as in the previous recipe, put in a saucepan with a small amount of water and heated until the wings open, then remove. Prepare garlic sauce - pour olive oil into a frying pan and dip the garlic cloves into the oil. Stir until you smell the garlic, remove the garlic itself, and put the mussels in the oil, after removing the top flap. Cut the lemon in half and squeeze out the juice, top the mussels with finely chopped herbs, add spices. They should be simmered with a lid on for 6-7 minutes. Put the finished ones on a dish, sprinkle with lemon and serve with white wine. One of the recipe options is to stew mussels in wine sauce instead of garlic. A delicious secret is to boil them in shells by adding 1 glass of wine to 1 glass of water. Clams will acquire a delicate taste and aroma of white wine. Also tasty are the mussels baked in the oven, with grated tomatoes, bread crumbs, parsley in olive oil. It is easy to prepare a salad with vegetables, herbs and tender mussel meat. There are a lot of recipes, the main thing is to find the right one for you. Dishes from mussels cannot be stored, they quickly deteriorate, it is easy to get poisoned with low-quality mussels. But you can keep fresh mussels in shells, in the refrigerator, wrapped in a towel. It is also permissible to freeze mussels for a period of 3 months; for this, pour some water into a container with them.

Mussels are an easy-to-prepare, nutritious, tasty and fragrant seafood. Most often they are served in Belgium, where it is a national dish. In combination with cold wine, clams turn into a delicate delicacy.

10.05.2018

Seafood has already ceased to seem like an exotic product and now appears even on the everyday table of most Russians quite often. Such a simple dish, like mussels in the oven with cheese and garlic, is worth learning how to cook for everyone, as it can help out in a situation where you need to urgently feed guests or figure out an interesting quick lunch.

In restaurants, mussels are served mostly in shells, so if you want to surprise your guests or family, you should first master this method of cooking them. It is laborious, but the result is worth all the effort expended. It is very important not to bake the mussels for too long, and also to make the sauce correctly, which is based on lime or lemon juice and olive oil. Take hard cheese, because it should not melt to a fluid, fatty state.

This dish has both useful and harmful sides, we recommend.

Ingredients:2

• mussels (in wings) - 10 pcs.;
• butter - 80 g;
• garlic cloves - 3 pcs.;
• lime;
• dried thyme - 1/2 tsp. spoons;
• olive oil - 2 table. spoons;
• hard cheese - 50 g;
• salt.

Cooking method:

1. Using a sharp long knife, pry off the clam meat, separating it from the shell - it will be easier to eat the finished snack after.
2. Rinse the mussels thoroughly to get rid of sand and algae.
3. Lay them out on a paper towel to remove excess moisture.
4. Combine soft butter with olive oil, beat with a fork.
5. Add squeezed lime juice, ground thyme and grated garlic. If desired, finely chopped fresh herbs can also be added here.
6. Arrange the mussels in their shells on a baking sheet or heat-resistant dish, put a little sauce in each shell.
7. Finely grate the hard cheese, sprinkle the mussels with a thin layer.
8. Send to the oven preheated to 190 degrees for 7 minutes. Serve the appetizer cold.

A simple recipe for mussels with cheese and garlic for dinner

It is easier to work with this dish, first of all, because you do not need to keep track of whether all the doors will open or not: you immediately buy a peeled and boiled product, so it remains only to defrost and bring it to full readiness. In addition, this recipe for mussels baked with cheese and garlic can be called quite budgetary, because peeled clams are much cheaper, so it is great for frequent lunches or dinners.

Ingredients:

• mussels - 350 g;
• cream 20% - 200 ml;
• egg 1 cat.;
• butter - 25 g;
• garlic cloves - 3 pcs.;
• processed cheese - 50 g;
• semi-hard cheese - 100 g;
• wheat flour - 1 table. a spoon;
• salt.

Cooking method:

1. Allow the mussels to defrost at room temperature by pouring them into a colander.
2. Rinse thoroughly under running cold water.
3. Boil water in a small saucepan, throw in the mussels, salt. If you purchased a boiled-frozen product, boil for only 2 minutes. If raw-frozen - about 10 minutes.
4. Melt butter in a frying pan, add flour and melted cheese.
5. Salt, add chopped and passed through the press garlic, cream. Remove the skillet from the stove.
6. Break the egg, add only the yolk to the sauce and mix well again.
7. Put the boiled mussels in a baking dish (you can use portioned small cocottes), pour garlic-cream sauce. Top generously with grated semi-hard cheese.
8. Bake in an oven preheated to 200 degrees for a quarter of an hour.

Special attention deserves such a variety of mussels as "kiwi" - these are very large mollusks with large shells that are used for stuffing. Of course, you can work with them according to the recipes discussed above, but it is better to pick up something special. For example, add shrimp and cream cheese with basil.

Ingredients:

• kiwi mussels - 1 kg;
• peeled salad shrimps - 200 g;
• hard cheese - 150 g;
• cream cheese - 100 g;
• basil leaves - 5 pcs.;
• garlic (cloves) - 3 pcs.;
• breadcrumbs - 2 table. spoons;
• salt.

Cooking method:

1. Put the mussels out of the package into a colander, rinse under running cold water, removing any remaining sand and defrosting them at the same time.
2. Using a sharp knife, remove the legs and algae sac.
3. Pour the shrimp into boiling water, salt and boil for literally 2 minutes: as soon as they start to float, immediately catch them with a slotted spoon.
4. Cut the shrimp finely, mix with cream cheese and breadcrumbs.
5. Chop basil leaves and stir in.
6. Pass the garlic through a press, add to the stuffing mixture.
7. Put the mussels in shells on a baking sheet, cover each shellfish with stuffing.
8. Grate hard cheese, make a fluffy hat on top.
9. Send the stuffed kiwi mussels to bake at 200 degrees for 15 minutes.