For this Pacific Northwest boy there’s nothing like sitting in front of a bowl of piping hot, steamed mussels–it’s one of my ultimate comfort foods. The more common and classic version has butter, wine, and lemon, and while I will never get sick of those flavors, this version with harissa (a traditionally Tunisian condiment of chile, oil, and spices) and a feisty beer (such as a local craft lager, pilsner, amber or wheat) is a delightful twist. This recipe initially debuted on a blog I created years ago, but even in the roaring 2020’s, I’m proud of how this dish I threw together (and have since perfected) turned out.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 2 lbs mussels
- 12oz beer (a light, mild hop beer such as a lager or amber)
- 3 tablespoons butter, divided
- 1/2 diced yellow onion
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
- 1-4 tablespoons harissa (see above note)
- Zest of a lemon
- Juice of a lemon
- 2 tablespoons chopped, fresh parsley
Instructions
Place flour into a large bowl and add a splash of cool water; whisk into a smooth paste before gradually adding approximately 4 cups (1 qt) of water. You want to create a paste before adding all the water to avoid lumps of flour. Next, add in fresh mussels. A live mussel will absorb the water and flour and expel any sand or sediment, which will avoid any grit in the final dish. Ensure the mussels are fully emerged (add more water if necessary) and place in refrigerator and let sit 15-30 minutes, or up to 1 hour.
Next, remove the mussels and rinse in a large colander. While this is tedious, you’ll want to check each mussel as most of them will have a “beard,” or a stringy, elastic thread. Just find the beard and yank out. In the vent there are any mussels that are partially open, give them a light tap—if they close, that means they’re still alive and fresh, if they remain open, toss. If they’re all tightly closed and you do not need to perform this test, congrats! One less step in the cooking process.
In a large, coverable pot (such as a smaller stock pot or a dutch oven), heat 2 tablespoons butter over medium heat. Once melted, add onion and cook for a 5-8 minutes until softened and lightly gold (but not too brown). Add garlic and cook for a 1-2 more minutes until aromatic (do not let burn). Season with salt and pepper. Add beer, harissa, and lemon zest and bring to a boil. At this point I like to taste for seasoning. Depending on your heat preference, you may want to add more harissa.
Add mussels, cover with a tight-fitting lid, reduce heat to medium high, and cook for 8-10 minutes over medium-high heat.
Remove lid, toss in lemon juice, parsley, and remaining 1 tablespoon butter. Serve in two large bowls with plenty of crusty bread for an insanely delicious but easy and fast meal. Whatever you do, be sure to sop up all the delicious sauce with bread or drink it directly from the bowl.
Notes
- While you can soak the mussels in advance, do not do so in flour water for more than 2 hours as too much time has an adverse reaction (basically, you drown the mussels with flour).
- A beard on a mussel sounds weird or scary, but it’s just a gland that allows the mussel to attach to a rope or pier, or whatever. I dunno—it’s biology or science. Don’t be scared
- For beverage pairings, serve with whatever beer you use to steam. Presumably, you bought several bottles of beer to make this dish so you should have leftovers.
- Beyond a crusty baguette (what else could you want?), you can always serve this with frites/fries, or a salad (but really, the parsley kind of already makes this a salad, right?)
