Mussels in Cider Cream Sauce | In Season

The depths of winter bring out the best shellfish of the year.

By Amy Traverso

Dec 03 2020

Mussels in Cider Cream Sauce

Photo Credit : Styled and Photographed by Liz Neily

The old adage that you should eat shellfish only in months that end with “ber” may be a slight exaggeration (there are plenty of good oysters in July), but it is based in science. As water temperatures drop, mussels, oysters, and clams store nutrients in the form of sweet-tasting glycogen, which makes for plumper meat and better eating. In the depths of winter, it’s nice to look out at the frozen farmland and remember that under the sea, the shellfish are ripe and in season.

These are times for cozy eating, and a big bowl of mussels with some crusty bread on the side really scratches that itch. Here, I’ve created a tasty sauce using hard apple cider (that’s the fizzy stuff with alcohol). The recipe couldn’t be easier: You make an aromatic base of onions, garlic, thyme, and paprika cooked in bacon fat, add the cider and reduce by half, and then steam the mussels. Nail the finish with splash of cream and a sprinkling of bacon and parsley. Get the Recipe: Mussels in Cider Cream Sauce

Amy Traverso

Amy Traverso is the senior food editor at Yankee magazine and co-host of the public television series Weekends with Yankee, a coproduction with WGBH. Previously, she was food editor at Boston magazine and an associate food editor at Sunset magazine. Her work has also been published in The Boston Globe, Saveur, and Travel & Leisure, and she has appeared on Hallmark Home & Family, The Martha Stewart Show, Throwdown with Bobby Flay, and Gordon Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares. Amy is the author of The Apple Lover’s Cookbook, which was a finalist for the Julia Child Award for best first-time author and won an IACP Cookbook Award in the “American” category.

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