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Monday, May 20, 2013

COOKING WITH CLORIS--LEA WAIT'S MUSSELS STEAMED IN WINE & HERBS


Lea Wait is a Maine author who writes the Agatha-finalist Shadows Antique Print Mysteries staring antique print dealer and college professor Maggie Summer. Lea also writes historical novels for ages 8-14 set in nineteenth century Maine. For more about Lea and her books, visit her website and the Maine Crime Writers blog she writes with nine other Maine mystery authors.   

Mussels Steamed in Wine & Herbs
(as seen in Shadows on a Cape Cod Wedding)

In Lea Wait’s Shadows on a Cape Cod Wedding, her latest Shadows Antique Print Mystery, antique print dealer Maggie Summer heads for Cape Cod to help her friend Gussie with pre-wedding planning and jitters …. and although finding a body on the beach and having to prepare for a hurricane do complicate their task, Maggie and Gussie find time to share several meals of scrumptious fresh seafood while counting down to Gussie’s big day. One of their favorites is Mussels Steamed in Wine & Herbs. Easy to prepare, easier to eat, and delicious.

You’ll need 1-2 dozen mussels per person, depending on whether the mussels will be an appetizer or main course. This recipe will assume you’re using 4 dozen fresh mussels, and that you’ve scrubbed & debearded them (taken off the long “beards” that attach them to rocks) and removed any mussels that are open (open = dead) before starting.

Finely chop 8 large shallots, 2 large onions, and 8 large cloves of garlic, and sauté them in 3 tablespoons of salted (preferably sea-salted) butter in a large Dutch oven or the heavy pot you use to cook spaghetti.

When the vegetables are soft, add the mussels, 1 teaspoon of dried thyme, and 3 cups of a dry white wine  like Chardonnay. Cover the pot and bring the wine to a boil. Steam until the mussels open – about 3 minutes.

Serve mussels in individual bowls or in one communal bowl and sprinkle with chopped parsley.  Be sure to have crusty French bread available to soak in the broth. Accompany with a glass of white wine. 

Shadows on a Cape Cod Wedding
Antique print dealer Maggie Summer is happy to help her best friend Gussie with pre-wedding preparations on Cape Cod ... until she finds a body on the beach, and the close-knit New England community no longer seems so friendly. Why does the dead man's daughter say he died two years ago .. in Colorado? Who was supplying drugs to teenagers in town? Already nervous about a critical discussion she needs to have with the man in her life, Maggie immerses herself in the murder investigation and wedding plans ... and then there's another murder ... and a hurricane ... and Maggie herself becomes a target. Maybe this time around, Maggie's gotten herself in a little too deep.


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