Mussels Marinara

This recipe started a couple of years ago with a recipe we clipped out the newspaper, and I started changing it a bit to make it fit our tastes.


I made it on Saturday night, and we both really enjoyed it. So, I thought I would write it down

Ingredients

• 1 kg (2 lbs) of Mussels
• 1 28 oz can plum tomatoes
• 1 small can of tomato paste
• 1 medium sized red pepper
• 1 medium sized Hungarian Hot Pepper
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh Tarragon - medium-coarse chop
• 4 Roma tomatoes
• 1 medium sized sweet onion
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 1 1/2 cups of Sauvignon blanc
• 1 tablespoon chili peppers (optional)
• about 1 1/2 cups of cilantro - strip the leaves off the big stems and toss out the big stems
• olive oil
• the best baguette from the neighbourhood bakery

Preparation

• wash and clean the mussels
• medium-fine chop the two peppers and the onion
• cut the four romas into bite-size pieces
• peel the garlic, crush with the flat of your knife, chop, not too fine
• I have a 16" wok that works perfect for this - but whatever you have that will work
• put enough olive oil into the very-hot wok, toss in the peppers, onions, and chopped garlic, simmer until they start to get nice and tender
• turn the wok down to a hot-simmer, add the tarragon, canned tomatoes, tomato paste, wine, and the chopped Roma tomatoes
• cover and simmer for 5 minutes
• add the mussels, cover and simmer for three minutes
• add the cilantro, cover and simmer for another three minutes
• should be done - check for mussels are open and look cooked - give another two minutes if you are not sure
• serve in a large bowl with the baguette on the side on a plate, have a soup spoon handy because the sauce is yummy
• you can skip the chili peppers - the Hungarian pepper has a fair amount of zing all by itself
• If you do not like cilantro, then use some parsley
• Also works great over pasta