Recipe Provided by Elemtn Seafood

Ingredients:

Serves 4-6 as an appetizer

2.5 lbs Mediterranean mussels, cleaned and debearded

1/2 c beer or white wine

1.5 c breadcrumbs

1/2 c Parmesan cheese (or any other hard Italian cheese), grated

1/4 c olive oil

3 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 t salt

1/4 t pepper

lemon wedges to garnish

Directions:

Rinse and debeard the mussels by tugging at the black threads protruding from the sides of the mussels. The beards, or abyssal threads, are used to hold the mussel to the rope, and can be used to move as well. You should be able to remove the beard with a firm tug; try not to yank the entire mussel meat out of its shell! Discard any mussels that are already open.

Put the debearded mussels in a large pot and add the beer. Turn the heat to medium-high, and steam the mussels until they have just opened.

Preheat the oven to 375 F. Shuck the mussels and remove half of the shell. You can use kitchen shears to help cut them apart. Place the mussels on a baking tray. Here, you can see how Mediterranean mussels fill their shells to the edge!

In a mixing bowl, combine the breadcrumbs, cheese, olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper. Add about a tablespoon of topping to each mussel, and pat the topping down to form a tight crust. Put the tray in the oven and bake until the topping is golden brown, about 7-10 minutes.