These flavorful mussels with basil-butter sauce look impressive, but they’re super simple to make! Plus keep reading to learn how you can win a gorgeous Anolon Nouvelle Copper 12″ Covered Skillet.
This Spring, I’m partnering with Anolon to create a few recipes perfect for sharing at springtime celebrations. Last month, I shared lemon-berry popovers that would be perfect for bridal showers, Mother’s Day, or any other excuse for brunch with friends. Today, I’m focusing on date night at home.
Mussels make a great date-night meal because they’re elegant and seem fancy, but they’re super simple to cook – this recipe only calls for 5 ingredients! You can dish them out in individual bowls or share them straight from the pot. Plus since they take a while to eat, which means more time for conversation. before we go our separate ways or plant ourselves in front of the tv.
Mussels have a lot of flavor on their own, so you don’t need to do much to them to transform them into a delicious meal. For these basil-butter mussels, I cooked them in a simple butter sauce known as beurre monté . It’s essentially melted butter emulsified with a little water to form a rich, velvety sauce. Add a little bit of lemon zest for acidity (don’t use juice, which causes the sauce to break) and tons of fresh basil to round things out. Serve the mussels with fresh baguette – perfect for sopping up any extra butter sauce – and a crisp white wine for an impressive date night meal.
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoons water
- 4 tablespoons salted butter cut into 8 pieces
- 2 pounds mussels scrubbed well
- ½ lemon zested
- ¼ cup fresh basil chopped
I made these mussels in Anolon’s Nouvelle Copper 12″ Covered Skillet. It’s the perfect size for cooking two pounds of mussels and the cover fits nice and snugly so the mussels steam quickly. The pot itself is a gorgeous, heavy stainless steel with a copper bottom that helps it heat quickly and evenly, preventing hot spots. It retails for $89.99 but I’m giving one away to a lucky reader for free! Enter via the form below (if you’re reading this on mobile, you might need to click through to the desktop site.)
