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Food & Wine Recipe

Mussels Roasted in Almond-Garlic Butter

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  • ACTIVE: 25 MIN
  • TOTAL TIME: 35 MIN
  • SERVINGS: 4
  • •FAST

Hayward credits this recipe to Alan McGrath, his former chef de cuisine at Fore Street. It is easy to see a Spanish influence in the savory combination of garlic, chiles and toasted almonds. The mussels Hayward uses at the restaurant are farmed off of Bang's Island in Maine's Casco Bay.

  1. 1/2 cup salted roasted almonds, chopped
  2. 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
  3. 2 garlic cloves, minced
  4. 1 medium shallot, minced
  5. 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
  6. 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
  7. 1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
  8. 1 teaspoon minced jalapeño
  9. 1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
  10. Salt
  11. 4 pounds mussels, scrubbed and debearded
  12. 1/2 cup dry white wine
  1. Preheat the oven to 450°. In a food processor, coarsely grind the almonds. Add the butter, garlic, shallot, parsley, lemon juice, lemon zest, jalapeño and pepper; process until blended. Season the almond-garlic butter with salt.
  2. Put the mussels in a large roasting pan and add the wine. Spoon the almond-garlic butter over the mussels and roast for 12 minutes, stirring the mussels and shaking the pan a few times, until all of the mussels have opened; discard any that do not open.
  3. With a slotted spoon, transfer the mussels to bowls. Spoon the almond-garlic butter on top.
Serve With Hot, crusty bread.

Suggested Pairing

The warmth of a Burgundy lends unusual voluptuousness to the typically steely austerity of good Chablis—just the combination for these briny, buttery mussels.