Mussels And Mash

Sitting down to a huge bowl of mussels is easily one of my favorite dining experiences. I love to order mussels at restaurants, and I often make them at home as well. The one problem that often happens with mussels however, is that you end up with so much liquid at the end of the bowl. That sweet sweet mussel juice. Yea, you can sop it up with some bread, but it’s never enough bread! I thought it would be a great idea to pour some mussels on top of mashed potatoes so you could use the liquid as a gravy for the mash.

Shallot, fennel, and sausage cooking in a pan.

Mushroom and garlic go in next.

Then the mussels!  Mussels are one of the most photogenic foods in my opinion.

Fennel fronds and parsley go in at the end of cooking.

Press your mash potatoes into a shallow bowl kinda like when you are a kid and you make a little crater in your mashed potatoes for the gravy to go in. But this is a big crater for adult gravy.

Then just spoon in the mussels and broth and all that goodness from the pan.

YES!  People love to have mussels and french fries but frankly the fries get soggy and aren’t good at sopping up all the liquid.  Mashed potatoes are a champ at this.

The flavors in this dish are super earthy and comforting.  Its really rich from the sausage, potatoes, and butter, but not so much that you feel gross after you eat it.

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Mussels And Mash

Mashed potatoes are the best way to put all that mussel juice to good use!

Prep Time15 minutes mins

Cook Time20 minutes mins

cook potatoes2 hours hrs

Total Time2 hours hrs 35 minutes mins

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: American, British, French, Italian

Keyword: Mash-Up

Ingredients

• 1 shallot diced
• 1 small fennel bulb bulb diced, fronds chopped
• 1/2 pound Italian sausage removed from casing
• 4 ounces mushrooms sliced
• 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 2 cloves garlic minced
• 2 pounds mussels cleaned
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 1/4 cup parsley
• 7 yukon gold potatoes
• 1 stick butter
• 1/4 cup parsley
• splash milk

Instructions

• Bake the potatoes at 350 until tender, about an hour and a half. Cut the potatoes before mashing so that you break up the skin. Mash with the butter, parsley, and as much milk needed.
• Cook the sausage, shallot, and fennel (the bulb part only) until the sausage is cooked and the veggies are starting to brown, about 7 minutes.
• Add the garlic, chile flake, and mushroom and cook 3 minutes.
• Add the mussels and wine. Cook until the mussels are all opened, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the fennel fronds.
• Put the potatoes into a shallow bowl and press them against the sides of the bowl to basically form a potato bowl. Scoop a bunch of mussels and sauce into the potatoes and serve.