Oven-Roasted Mussels With Fresh Spinach

Name: Oven-Roasted Mussels With Fresh Spinach
Total time: 30 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: italian
Ingredients: 3 1/2 pounds black mussels; 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil; 2 to 4 garlic cloves (to taste), minced; 1/2 cup dry white wine; 1 pound roma tomatoes, seeded and finely chopped; 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes; 1/4 cup minced flat-leaf parsley; Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste; 2 generous bunches fresh spinach (about 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 pounds), stem ends trimmed away, washed well in 2 rinses of water

By Martha Rose Shulman

Total Time: 30 minutes
Rating: 5(43)
Notes: Read community notes

Mussels don’t have to be steamed. They will pop open in a hot, dry cast iron skillet on a grill or in the oven. In this dish they are first tossed with garlic, olive oil and wine, then roasted along with the marinade in a pan in a hot oven. You may have to do this in batches, depending on the size of your skillet or baking dish. I like to use cast iron or enameled cast iron. This particular recipe is inspired by one in "The Mozza Cookbook," by Nancy Silverton. Served over a generous bed of steamed spinach, this is a beautiful dish. If you have leftovers, remove the mussels from the shells, chop the spinach and toss with pasta.

Featured in: One More Reason to Love Mussels: Curry-Laced Moules à la Marinière With Fresh Peas

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Ingredients

Yield:4 servings

3½pounds black mussels
2tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 to 4garlic cloves (to taste), minced
½cup dry white wine
1pound roma tomatoes, seeded and finely chopped
¼ to ½teaspoon red pepper flakes
¼cup minced flat-leaf parsley
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
2generous bunches fresh spinach (about 1¼ to 1½ pounds), stem ends trimmed away, washed well in 2 rinses of water

Ingredient Substitution Guide

Preparation

Step 1
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Clean the mussels. Inspect each one carefully and discard any that have opened (if some are partly open, tap them with your finger, and if they close back up they are O.K.) or have cracked shells. Place in a large bowl, fill the bowl with cold water and rinse several times, swishing the mussels around in the water, pouring out the water and refilling. Clean the shells, if necessary, with a brush or the end of one of the mussels, and pull out the beards -- the hairy attachments emerging from the shells. Do not do this until just before cooking, or the mussels will die and spoil.
Step 2
Combine all of the ingredients in a large bowl and toss with the mussels. Refrigerate for 10 minutes.
Step 3
Arrange the mussels, pointed ends up, in a single layer in a cast iron skillet and/or a heavy baking dish. Spoon the marinade left in the bowl over the mussels and place in the preheated oven. Bake for about 10 minutes, until most of the mussels have opened.
Step 4
Meanwhile, steam the spinach in a large pot above 1 inch of boiling water until tender, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat, arrange on a large round platter, and season with a little bit of coarse sea salt and pepper.
Step 5
Arrange the mussels that have opened on top of the spinach and return the pan to the oven for another 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and discard any mussels that have not opened. Arrange all of the mussels on top of the spinach, pour the juices in the pan over the mussels and spinach, sprinkle on the parsley and serve over a bed of steamed spinach, with crusty bread.

Tip

Advance preparation: You can steam the spinach up to 2 days ahead and reheat in a skillet, steamer or microwave. Wait to clean the mussels until the day you make the dish. If you buy them a day ahead, remove them from the bag and place in a bowl, covered with a damp cloth, in the refrigerator.

Ratings

5 out of 5

43 user ratings

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Private Notes

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Cooking Notes

Michele6 years ago

Delicious! Being lazy, I made a half recipe on the stove-top in a Le Creuset covered braiser. With good french bread and a glass of wine from the bottle I used in the recipe it made a simple, delightful, and easy lunch. I will definitely make this again.

Tokyo Tony6 years ago

OK, I attempted this; didn't work out as advertised. Loading mussels "pointed end up" (means "hinge end up"?) means mussels tightly packed in pan. As a result, after 15 min in 200 degree Celsius oven NONE of the mussels open (because parts that open crowded in bottom of pan). So, transferred it all into fry pan with tight lid, brought it to a full boil on stove top. Mussels opened. So: skip marinade step, skip oven, don't crowd mussels and do it on stove top.

MA1 year ago

Did not work for me either - kept opening oven getting 4 or 5 mussels out at a time, instructions not clear at all. Thankfully I saw Tokyo Tony’s comments so just ended up throwing everything, spinach, mussels, marinade in a covered braiser on stovetop until mussels opened. Also not sure why it mentions serve over a bed spinach again at the end of the recipe.

Martha3 years ago

Very good. I pre-heated cast iron skillet before adding mussels.

Laura4 years ago

Good, but they took a lot longer than that to open. Had to stir them around a bunch, fish some out, and keep returning to oven.

Tokyo Tony6 years ago

Shouldn't step 3 be Combine all of the ingredients EXCEPT THE SPINACH AND PARSLEY in a large bowl and toss with the mussels. Refrigerate for 10 minutes.

Michele6 years ago

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