Mussels

My friend was attending a conference in Washington D.C. at the end of October last year, and I took the train to meet her. I found a Belgian gastro pub in D.C. that specialized in mussels and fries (moules & frites). Here is what I ordered: 

Later the next week, I was telling my friend about the place, and she explained to me that mussels really aren't that hard to make and they're cheap at the grocery store. She described how to clean them and the best way to cook them, so the next time I was at the grocery store, I bought a pound. I found this recipe from Cooking Light, and I decided to give it a try. Here was my result:

The most important thing when preparing your mussels for cooking is removing the beard:

You also want to make sure that any damaged mussels are thrown away before cooking. If any of the mussels don't open after they are cooked, make sure to throw them away. I tried the Cooking Light recipe listed above with kale, but I preferred the spinach. This was my result with kale and the mussels after they were cooked and taken out of their shells:

If you like shellfish, give mussels a try!