Mussels with Chorizo

I love mussels.  It's one of my favorite seafoods.  I'd eat it all the time if it wasn't such a pain in the ass to clean.  I'll spend a good half hour at the sink scraping "stuff" off the shells and de-bearding them. No good...because I'm a lazy cook.

Normally when I make them at home, I'll stir fry the mussels in a spicy mixture of chili and oyster sauce with green onions.  I'll post the recipe after I make it again and actually write down all the ingredients and measurements.  I usually just eyeball everything and constantly taste as I go.

For dinner tonight I wanted to try cooking the mussels a different way.  I remembered seeing Sunny Anderson on Food Network cook up her mussels in wine and chorizo.

Mussels with Chorizo

Sunny Anderson

Ingredients

• 2 (5-pound) bags mussels
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 pound spicy Mexican chorizo, casing removed
• 1 Vidalia onion, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, slivered
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 bottle dry white wine
• Parsley, chopped, for garnish 

Directions

Working, 1 at a time, scrub any grit from shells under running water. Discard open mussels that do not close with a few taps of the finger and any with cracked shells. Put the mussels in a bowl of cold water.
Heat the oil in a large wide pot over medium-high heat and add the chorizo. Using a wooden spoon or potato masher, mash the chorizo into chunks, so it resembles ground beef. Saute until brown, about 8 minutes. Remove chorizo to a bowl. In the same pot, add the onion and garlic and season with salt and pepper, to taste. Saute 3 minutes to sweat. Deglaze the pan with the wine. Pull the mussels from bowl and transfer them and the water to the pot, do not strain, leaving behind any sand and grit that has sunk to the bottom. Stir to coat. Add the chorizo back into the pot and cover. Cook over medium heat until the mussels open, 5 to 10 minutes. Transfer to a large serving bowl, sprinkle with parsley and serve immediately.

This was so fast and easy...minus the cleaning process.  I had the chorizo on hand but no white wine.  I substituted with chicken stock instead.  I also threw in a handful of frozen corn at the last minute for a boost of color.  Really tasty!  I bet it would have tasted even better if I had the wine.  Next time!!