Mussels! One of my husbands favorite seafood's; he's been out of town on business and they were staring at me from the freezer every time I opened the door so I finally relented and made them without him here.
This just a heads up that these particular
mussels
were quite affordable; bought from Walmart's frozen food department!
Mussels are closely related to oysters and scallops. The shells of freshwater mussels are used in button making while the mussels themselves secrete many pearls of low quality that are used in inexpensive jewelry. Walmart's mussels have been cleaned, cooked and vacuum-sealed already so they are ready to simply reheat and eat. Their 2 lb. package is actually two 1-pound pouches that you immerse in simmering water for 4-6 minutes until they are reheated and then serve. According to the packaging they are farm raised.
We like our mussels with a simple garlic butter sauce. After immersing the bag in boiling/simmering water for a few minutes I opened the bag, placed it in a pan and added butter and garlic to taste.
Walmarts mussels are a bit salty and smaller than some of the mussels you may be used to, but if you live in the heartland of America and you don't want to buy fresh at the deli counter because you don't want to pay the price or you don't know when you will make them for sure, it's an easy and cheap purchase for mussels in a pinch.
