As much as I love my meat, I love seafood even more. If I could I would have sushi every day. Today I'm highlighting mussels by cooking them in a bouillabaisse-influence stock and finishing them with rouille, a roasted red pepper sauce. Mussels are usually a quick meal to prepare but take some time to prepare a flavorful stock and you'll have an amazing seafood meal. Still not convinced to try mussels? Try this Marseille mussels recipe with just shrimp, clams, or even fish!

Recipe

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Marseille Mussels

Total Time45 minutes mins

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: French

Keyword: seafood

Servings: 4

Author: Christine Ma

Ingredients

Broth

• ½ lb shrimp shell-on, heads on
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 onion chopped
• 3 stalks celery chopped
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 bay leaf
• 8 peppercorns
• 2 sprigs thyme
• 8 fl ounces clam juice
• 1 cup white wine
• pinch of saffron

Rouille

• 1 red pepper roasted and peeled
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 piece of white bread torn into pieces
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• juice of one lemon
• ½ cup olive oil
• salt and pepper

Marseille mussels

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 fennel chopped
• 1 shallot minced
• 2 garlic minced
• 2 medium tomatoes chopped
• 1 ½ lb mussels
• ½ lb calamari
• prepared broth
• salt and pepper
• chopped parsley for garnish

Instructions

• Prepare the broth. Remove heads and shell from shrimp, setting aside shrimp.
• Heat 2 tablespoon oil in medium saucepot over medium-high heat. Add onions and celery and saute until softened and onions are translucent about 5 minutes. Add garlic and saute 30 seconds. Add bay leaf, peppercorns, thyme, clam juice white wine, and reserved shrimp heads and shells, stirring to combine. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Remove from heat and strain broth. Add a pinch of saffron and set aside.
• Meanwhile, prepare the rouille. Combine roasted red pepper - juice of a lemon in a food processor or blender. Turn machine on and slowly drizzle olive oil into the mix, creating a thick sauce. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside.
• Heat wide pan or cast-iron pan over medium heat. Add 1 tablespoon olive oil. When the oil is hot, add fennel and saute until softened, about 3-4 minutes. Add shallot and garlic and saute 30 more seconds. Add tomatoes and cook 1 minute.
• Add mussels, calamari and reserved shrimp to the pan. Pour prepared broth with saffron. Cover and bring the broth to a simmer. Cook seafood until mussel shells have opened and shrimp are lightly pink about 4-5 minutes. Remove cover, season with salt and pepper. Divide seafood into four plates, pouring broth on top. Drizzle rouille on top and sprinkle parsley. Serve.

**Helpful tips and common mistakes

Although I've never been to Marseille, I know these mussels are not exactly the ones from the city; rather, they are Marseille-style mussels. Saffron, garlic, seafood, and wine are all found in the traditional Marseille mussels, I've just added some more ingredients.

The first step is to make a lovely broth. This broth is the sauce for the finished dish so you want a flavorful stock. Unlike chicken and beef broth, seafood stocks typically take much less time since the ingredients don't take as long to break down.

Blooming the saffron in hot water or broth brings out the full flavor of the spice and will shine more in the dish. Saffron is very expensive but you only need a small pinch for maximum flavor.

For some reason, my market only carried mussels on the half-shell but sometimes you just have to work with what you got. If you can't find fresh mussels, go for frozen. Every time I used frozen mussels, the seafood was still up to par.

If calamari is difficult to find, purchase small squid instead. Slice squid into ½ inch rings and use in place for the calamari. Squid tends to be a bit tougher than calamari, but because it only cooks for a couple of minutes, they are still tender in this dish.

Pardon the foggy picture, the steam was quickly rising from the pan. Remove the lid from the pan once the seafood is cooked and a strong aroma will evade your kitchen, in a good way!

Pour all those lovely juices into the bowl with the seafood and finish with the rouille. Serve with crusty bread to soak up the liquid and enjoy! The flavors of these Marseille mussels are bold but the overall dish is still light. The saffron shines through while the tender calamari, sweet shrimp, and perfectly cooked mussels are complete the meal. Viva la France!

For more seafood inspiration check out this coconut chile lime shrimp recipe!