Mussels contain all the vitamins that humans need. They are also very high in tocopherol (vitamin E), which has antioxidant properties. In addition, mussels contain about thirty trace elements, and their protein is rich in amino acids. In terms of glycogen content, which is very useful for the human body, shellfish are superior to almost all products of animal origin. And there is more protein in mussels than, for example, in beef or fish. To preserve all the beneficial substances and avoid the harmful effects of toxic substances that may be found in shellfish, you need to know how to properly cook mussels. Here are some interesting recipes that I like to cook:

Mussel salad.

Ingredients:
Mussels – 400 g,
Onions – 2 pcs.,
Tomatoes – 4 pcs.,
Olives,
Parsley,
Olive oil – 2 tbsp. spoons,
Juice of one lemon
Ground black pepper,
Salt

Preparation:
Simmer the mussel meat in its own juice for about 15 minutes and cool. Cut the tomatoes into slices and mix with mussels, parsley, onions and olives. Olives can be placed either whole or cut into rings. Add lemon juice and olive oil. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Soup with mussels.

You will need:
Boiled mussels – 900 g,
Fish broth – 200-250 ml,
Onion – 1 large head,
Garlic – 2 cloves,
Canned tomatoes – 800 g,
Tomato paste – 1 tbsp. spoon,
Olive oil – 1 tbsp. spoon,
Dry white wine – 50-100 ml,
Red pepper,
Parsley.

Cooking:
Pour olive oil into a saucepan and heat it over medium heat, then add the onion, cut into rings, and sauté for about 10 minutes. Add finely chopped garlic and fry the whole mass for a few more minutes. Then pour fish broth into the pan, add tomatoes, tomato paste and pepper. Dilute white wine with 500 ml water and pour into the soup. Add heat and bring the soup to a boil. After the soup boils, mash the tomatoes with a spoon and boil for another 5 minutes. Then add the mussels and boil them for about 10 minutes. Before serving, add finely chopped parsley.

Mussels in soy sauce.

What you will need:
Mussels – 500 gr.,
Onion – 2 heads,
Carrots – 2 pcs.,
Lemons – 2 pcs.,
Soy sauce – 300g.,
Salt
Black pepper
Bay leaf.

Preparation:
Heat the frying pan high, fry the onion, cut into half rings and grated carrots. Place thawed mussels, pepper, salt and bay leaf in a frying pan. Simmer this for about 5 minutes. Then add lemon juice or lemons cut into thin slices, pour in the soy sauce and simmer the whole mass for 5-10 minutes. Remove from heat and cool slightly. Before serving, the dish should stand for about half an hour so that the mussels are soaked in the sauce.

Bon appetit!

Many people are fans of seafood dishes. And I don’t know what to call such people - gourmets or just people with good taste, but only dishes made from fresh food or from the first frost, without unacceptable defrosting and freezing, can be truly tasty. And, of course, properly prepared at home.

Baked mussels in shells are prepared simply and quickly, but the result is amazing. You don’t need anything special to prepare them; they turn out delicious anyway. They can simply be eaten either hot or cold, or can be used to prepare salads and snacks.

Cooking mussels

This recipe is probably the simplest of all. Cooking shellfish in a frying pan begins like this: first, take raw or raw-frozen ones. Frozen ones need to be carefully defrosted by placing them on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator for about two to three hours. Then clean them of debris and algae that need to be pulled out of the shells.

We will mercilessly throw them away, and we will also remove shellfish with broken or open shells.

To bake mussels in their own juice, we will take a deep frying pan. Put it on high heat and put the prepared shellfish in it. There is no need to add oil to the pan. Then add a lot of coarsely chopped dill to the pan.

No need to add salt. Mussels live in seawater and contain a sufficient amount of salt.

Dry herbs should not be added either, since the cooking time is very short and the dried herbs will not have time to reveal their bouquet.

People often ask how long it takes to cook mussels in their own juice in this way. There are no exact criteria here, I can only give approximate ones. Baking mussels in a frying pan lasts about 10 minutes, stirring them constantly every minute. The most important thing is not to dry them out.

The clam pulp in the shells will significantly decrease in size and will give enough, but we will not use it. When the shells of all the mussels have opened, put them on a dish or plate with a slotted spoon, decorate them to your liking, and you are ready to serve. If they turn green like in the top photo, don't be alarmed, this is a normal process. As you can see for yourself, everything is really simple and fast.

How to eat baked clams

Now a few words about how to eat baked mussels in the wings. First of all, you need to break the shell into two leaves, and then get the tasty pulp out with a tablespoon or an empty half of the shell. Feel free to use an empty sash. this is permissible even by diplomatic etiquette. Bon appetit!

Calorie content

There is one more very pleasant circumstance. This dish is suitable for absolutely all people and especially for those who are watching their weight. The calorie content of mussels prepared in this way is only about 80 Kcal per 100 grams of the finished product. You can safely eat in almost any quantity.

Ingredients

• Raw mussels (or raw-frozen) - 2 kilograms;
• Dill, parsley, cilantro, basil - 1 bunch each.

Using this recipe, you can cook delicious mussels, vongole and any other inhabitants of the deep sea in shells, and the main ingredient of the dish, in addition to the shellfish themselves, will be their juice, which is contained in the shells. Thanks to this, we will be able to preserve and emphasize the natural taste of seafood as much as possible, while a small amount of other ingredients will only highlight it. The broth, which will definitely remain at the bottom of the plates, is very tasty, so don't forget about fresh bread.

Shells in their own juice

Wash the shells, brushing them if necessary and removing any beards. In a suitable saucepan, melt over medium heat, add minced garlic and sauté until fragrant. Place cherry tomatoes, cut in half, cut side down in the oil and wait a couple of minutes until they release juice. After this, season them with black pepper (if desired, you can replace it with ground chili), squeeze lemon juice into the pan, add shells and immediately stir the contents of the pan.

Cover the pan with a lid, increase the heat, and check after 3 minutes - the shells should begin to open. Stir the contents of the pan again and cover with a lid for another 3 minutes. When most of the shells have opened (usually 1-2 of the most stubborn shells never open their doors and should be thrown away), remove the pan from the heat, add finely chopped parsley and serve shells in their own juice with fresh bread and a glass of white: the first is useful for dipping leftovers, the second will make a pleasant pairing with the shells themselves.

I love mussels. For a long time I was afraid to buy them from us, so I ate exclusively in their habitats. But gradually, everything changed, and trustworthy products appeared in stores, and for many years now I have been buying and preparing mussels at home.

One of the manufacturers that inspires me confidence is Agama. Moreover, I buy not only mussels, but also other seafood of this brand, there were no punctures.

Lately, I prefer shock-frozen mussels, and Agama is exactly like that. This freezing method began to be used back in the last century, but not all frozen foods on our shelves are subjected to this kind of freezing.

The mussels are packed in a bag with a lot of interesting information, there is even a cooking recipe. This recipe didn’t inspire me, so I’ll give below one of the many recipes that I use. I found this recipe in my favorite restaurant on the Champs Elysees in Paris, which specializes in mussels and people come there to eat them. I always visit this restaurant when I’m in Paris and gradually learned all my favorite recipes.

On the packaging you can also see the composition and, as you can see, there is nothing there except the mussels themselves.

The package is not transparent, so when purchasing you can only trust the manufacturer. Inside the outer bag there is also an inner vacuum packaging. It looks like this.

For cooking, I do not defrost mussels. I just open the vacuum sealed bag and start cooking right away. The mussels look delicious. All one to one. You can call them selective. They are clean, without beards or debris. There are no foreign inclusions.

Make sure all mussels are covered before cooking. The fact is that good mussels must be closed, but when they are cooked, on the contrary, closed mussels should be mercilessly thrown out and not try to open them. In short, everything is simple: raw mussels should be closed, cooked mussels should be open.

There were no open mussels in the package with Agama mussels. But after cooking, sometimes there are some, but not many 1-2 per package, and sometimes not even one.

Agama mussels look very attractive, clean and beautiful. Cooking them is a pleasure. There are many ways, today one of the simplest and most delicious. But before cooking, I advise you to set the table in advance and prepare accompanying dishes. If we talk about a restaurant on the Champs-Elysees, then mussels are served piping hot right in the cocottes in which they were prepared, and they are always accompanied by a crispy French baguette, fresh non-carbonated water, white wine and, surprisingly, small vases with French fries (free of charge). ). If desired, a vegetable salad dressed with olive oil can also be served.

Mussels cook very quickly, so all the ingredients should also be on hand.

We will need:

• Mussels in shells 1 kg (I have 2 packs of 450 g each) if you wish, you can add king prawns and/or squid rings, 3 cloves garlic, white wine 150 ml, cream 20% 150 ml, water 100-150 ml , blue cheese (for example Dor Blue) 40-50 gr., a bunch of greens (I prefer parsley + cilantro), vegetable oil (preferably olive).

The cooking process is very simple and fast:

* In a cauldron or deep frying pan (you can see both in the photo), heat the garlic cloves crushed with a knife for about 2 minutes. Until the garlic begins to give off its aroma.
* Place the Agama mussels without defrosting, add white wine, stir, cover and cook for 2-3 minutes over high heat. During this time, the mussels should open. If desired, you can add shrimp and/or squid rings.
* Pour in cream and water. You also need to crumble the cheese there. Mix well.
* Add chopped greens, cook covered for another 2 minutes. And you can serve.

Since at home we cook mussels in one bowl for everyone, you can place the bowl in the center of the table and then lay it out in portions during the meal. Mussels need to be placed on heated plates, always scooped out along with the sauce in which they were cooked. Breaking off pieces of the crispy baguette and dipping them into the sauce will give you double the pleasure of this dish. In addition, it is satisfying and, together with a salad, can completely replace a full dinner or lunch.

By the way, you can eat this dish without a fork. To do this, you need to take one shell and, freeing it from its contents, use it like tweezers to extract the delicious mussel meat from other shells. This is very convenient and is not forbidden even in a restaurant.

Conclusion:

I really liked the Agama mussels. They are clean, meaty and very tasty. I buy them quite often and use them in different dishes. There are absolutely no complaints about the quality. I recommend trying it.