Mussels with Wine Sauce on Creamy Polenta

Name: Mussels with Wine Sauce on Creamy Polenta
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 35 min
Ingredients: 4 cups chicken broth; 1 cup polenta; 1/2 teaspoon salt; 2 ounces goat cheese; 2 tablespoons chicken broth; 10 ounces sliced portobello mushrooms; 2 large portobello mushrooms (sliced thinly); 10 ounces baby spinach (one package); 1/4 teaspoon salt; 2 teaspoons garlic paste (or 2 cloves of garlic); 2 tablespoons butter; 1/4 cup chicken broth; 1/8 cup dry white wine; 5 ounces mussels (pre-packaged without shells); 1 teaspoon dried basil

Last updated on August 5, 2020. Originally posted on June 4, 2018 By Elaine 36 Comments

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This mussels with wine sauce recipe is so good that your taste buds are going to do the cha-cha in celebration. It’s easy and so good served on sautéed spinach and mushrooms and creamy polenta.

Two white shallow bowls of polenta topped with mushrooms, spinach and mussels

We go to a fabulous restaurant on Main Street in our small town. It is well known in our area and regularly awarded for its seafood, which is surprising because, even though we’re near the coast, we’re basically landlocked. When Christopher and I want to celebrate, we go to this restaurant for its delicious food and cocktails.

We love to sit at the bar. That’s where they shuck oysters and cook lovely appetizers like mussels and steamers. I’ve watched them like a hawk as they prepare sea food. They have an amazing cooking station behind the bar. There is a line of cooking pans with levers that tip their finished products into dishes and bowls. There are water faucets above the cooking pans to wash them after each batch.

I created this recipe in honor of that restaurant.

I’ve never made steamed mussels or clams! How do I do it?

Cooking clams, mussels is pretty much a matter of steaming them until the shells open up, so that part is easy.

Do I have to buy mussels in their shells?

No. Although you can make this delightful recipe with fresh mussels in the shell, I love the convenience of using shucked mussels, which also changes the cooking method and shortens the time.

What gives mussels and steamed clams their flavor?

The liquid they’re steamed in contribute a great deal of flavor to mussels and clams. The restaurant I mention above uses chicken broth, butter, herbs and wine. The broth, which they serve for dipping, is so good you could drink it. But Christopher and I try to be circumspect and just soak it up with their fabulous dinner rolls.

Clarified butter also makes shellfish pretty delicious.

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How to make mussels with wine sauce

TIP: Prepare the rest of the meal as you’re cooking the polenta, so that everything is finished at roughly the same time.

Step one

Gather the polenta and chicken broth.

Polenta, chicken broth measured out on a wooden table

Step two

Pour broth into a saucepan and bring it to a boil. Add the polenta and cook for 20 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes. Add goat cheese and let it melt for another 5 minutes.

Step three

Gather the mussels whether you are using packaged (which I love) or fresh. Also get out the spinach and mushrooms.

Mussels in a package on the table and spinach and mushrooms on a wooden board in the background

Step four

Heat a wok or a large sauté pan on medium and once that heats up, add chicken broth, sliced mushrooms, garlic paste and salt. Sauté for 5 minutes and add spinach and stir until the spinach is wilted.

Mushrooms and spinach cooked in a wok with a pan of polenta in the background

Step five

Dollop some polenta on the plates. I use shallow white bowls that I got at Crate & Barrel

Polenta spooned in two bowls with some mushrooms and spinach in the background

Step six

While the polenta is cooking: Since the mussels are pre-cooked, I heat them up in a sauté pan.

Heat the pan on medium, add butter, broth, wine and mussels and sauté for 5 minutes.

If you are using mussels in shells, they will be done once the shells open.

Sautéed mussels front and center with two deep bowls filled with the polenta and mushrooms and spinach

Step seven

Spoon the vegetables and the mussels on the polenta.

Mussels with wine sauce on creamy polenta from above!

Overhead view of the two white bowls filled with polenta topped with mussels and veggies. There is also a dish filled with mussels in a wine sauce

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I hope you enjoyed this mussels with wine sauce recipe!

And as always, may all your dishes be delish!

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