Mussels Relleno

One afternoon, mom came home with some mussels and asked me to cook it the usual way we do it (boil with some ginger), but since I just finished testing a recipe from FOOD Magazine Eat & Run, it made me remember a recipe using mussels, so I set aside five mussels to try it out.




Mussels Relleno

{6 Servings}

Ingredients:

• 1 kilo mussels
• 2 cups water
• 1 medium onion, minced
• 1 tablespoon chopped garlic
• 1 cup ground beef
• 1/4 cup chopped raisins
• 1/2 cup green peas
• 2 eggs, well beaten
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1 cup cooking oil
• 1/4 cup chopped parsley

How to Cook:

• In a casserole, boil mussels in water until all shells are opened. Discard unopened shells. Remove mussels from the shells and reserve some of the shells. Chop the mussel meat.
• In a bowl, combine mussel meat, onions, garlic, ground beef, raisins, green peas, and eggs. Season with salt and pepper. Mix well.
• Spoon filling into reserved shells. In a wok or deep frying pan, heat oil and fry mussels until top of filling is golden. Drain on paper towels. Garnish with parsley before serving.

Note(s) to Consider:

• Be sure to buy mussels that are tightly shut.
• Mussels are best bought early in the morning, when they are very fresh.

Cooking the dish, I got a little disappointed that my mussels became really brown, compared to the very light ones printed in the cook book. Giving me some sort of comfort, brother said pictures from cookbooks and magazines are more likely styled to look great in pictures. As for its taste, I loved it, and my mom loved it, too. Well, we had other dishes for dinner that night, I just made this to try the recipe, so my siblings and cousin Jayson ate the other dishes. The only problem I had was that the filling was a bit difficult to take out from the shell, but I guess it wouldn't matter that much because it tasted good. :)

*** Jenn ***

ps - The recipe calls for parsley as garnish, but we didn't have it that moment, so I just used grated cheese to garnish the dish, and I think it added a different taste to the mussels. Of course, you can try and use it, too, or just stick to recipe.