Today we’re dealing with fish, namely the recipe for Baked Mussels with Crunchy Breadcrumbs. A quick and delicious recipe as we like it. A fish appetizer or a sea main course to be served accompanied by other baked fish fillets. In fact, we can also serve, as a main dish, the Salmon with Pistachio Crust to complete the dinner.
When you miss someone, do you ever find yourself trying to imitate them? To make their recipes? In this case, it’s my mother. Well, that’s why I’ve recently gone back to cooking fish. I don’t particularly enjoy preparing it at home; honestly, I prefer to eat it in a restaurant. I hate cleaning it. I was lucky before; my mother was a cook, and for her, it was only fish; she ate meat in restaurants. Being mother and daughter and being completely opposite was in our family DNA.
So, I used to eat the fish cleaned and prepared by her; I just had to sit at the restaurant or her home table. But then she left very early, it’s been almost 9 years now, and so many of her recipes have been lost, while others remain, and I keep them carefully. Of those lost, unfortunately, I will never be able to replicate them; she didn’t teach, you had to “steal secrets with your eyes”, otherwise nothing. Those that remain are recipes we prepared together for private dinners, Christmas, Easter, at the restaurant, or for dining together. Some I have tried to replicate by trying over and over, some turned out pretty well, others not so much.
The Baked Mussels served in a scallop shell is one of her recipes, we prepared them countless times in her restaurant or at home. They seem very simple if you use pre-shelled frozen mussels from the freezer section or the neighborhood fish shop. Her way was different, she bought fresh mussels, cleaned them, and removed the filament (byssus). She opened them in a pot, leaving them slightly undercooked, with lemon juice and white wine, and then let them cool to remove the shell (valve). So, her work was much longer.
The baked mussels with crunchy breadcrumbs recipe I propose today is very simple because we will use pre-shelled mussels that we can find both in the supermarket freezer section or in the frozen fish shop. I propose this version because it is more simple, quicker, and still allows us to serve an excellent sea appetizer to our guests or family. I hope to find the time to also prepare the recipe with fresh mussels as my mother Roberta did so I can present this other version of the same recipe. With one more step that certainly makes it even better.
Before moving on to the baked mussels with crunchy breadcrumb recipe, I’ll leave you with some other ideas, from the salmon I mentioned earlier to the oven-baked mustard salmon, if you’ve never tried it, trust me and let me know! There’s also the fish parmigiana, the classic tuna loaf, and the monkfish. I’d say you’ll find plenty of fish recipes for a complete dinner here in my cooking blog. Each link below will take you directly to the recipe you want to read.
Moreover, in the box below the recipe, you’ll find all the links to the social profiles of the blog Le Ricette di Bea, including the Facebook Fan Page where I wait for you every morning with the Recipe of the Day! Don’t miss this appointment, click follow to stay always updated on live recipes and content from my kitchen.
- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Economical
- Rest time: 30 Minutes
- Preparation time: 5 Minutes
- Portions: 2 people
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All seasons
- Energy 387.53 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 41.55 (g) of which sugars 4.17 (g)
- Proteins 19.57 (g)
- Fat 16.14 (g) of which saturated 3.53 (g)of which unsaturated 3.95 (g)
- Fibers 3.04 (g)
- Sodium 920.90 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 100 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Ingredients for Baked Mussels with Crunchy Breadcrumbs
- 7 oz mussels (shelled)
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- as needed extra virgin olive oil
- 4 tablespoons breadcrumbs (large, perfect for oven baking)
- as needed parsley (finely chopped or dried parsley)
- as needed marjoram (freshly chopped or dried marjoram)
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 pinch black pepper
- 1 pinch paprika (in my case sweet)
- 1 tablespoon white wine
- 1 tablespoon cheese (finely grated)
List of ingredients that may seem long, but as you can see, it’s just a few grams per ingredient. You can also opt for already dried parsley and marjoram in jars, and don’t worry if you don’t have paprika.
Tip: Concerning extra virgin olive oil and white wine, try not to overdo it. The coating should not be oily and soggy, better to have less liquid than too much.
As for the cheese, you can add it like I do or not, my mother often added it even when dealing with fish, but if you don’t like it or are lactose intolerant you can skip it.
Tools for Baked Mussels
- 1 Bowl
- 1 Baking tray
- 1 Parchment paper
- 1 Oven
- 1 Scale
- 1 Spoon
- 1 Dish towel
- 1 Colander
Bea’s Tip: Consider the thawing time of the mussels at room temperature, so don’t start the recipe until they’ve thawed properly. First thing to do: take the mussels out of the freezer and put them in the refrigerator. If you need to prepare the baked mussels for lunch, do this step the night before, if you will serve the baked mussels for dinner, do this step first thing in the morning. Make sure because it’s crucial.
Recipe Steps for Baked Mussels with Oven Breadcrumbs
Let’s start with the mussels, as mentioned, we should calculate the thawing time to achieve a great final result. I indeed took the mussels out of the freezer the night before going to bed to find them already thawed when I woke up. From the refrigerator, I then passed them into a colander with nice wide holes. I sprinkled them with lemon juice and let them drain for about 30 minutes. During this time, we can prepare the bread for the crunchy coating.
Let’s take a nice big bowl and a spoon. Pour the breadcrumbs into the bowl, often my breadcrumbs come from Grandma Sandra who provides breadcrumbs for the whole family with stale bread from the previous week. If you don’t have a grandma, if you don’t have an electric grater to do it, you can buy coarse breadcrumbs for crunchy coatings.
Now let’s flavor our bread, so add the parsley, either dried or fresh finely chopped parsley. Then the marjoram, same story, either fresh finely chopped or dried. Sprinkle with salt and black pepper. If you like, add a pinch of paprika, sweet or spicy, it will give even more flavor to your baked fish. Try it and let me know! We also add a tablespoon of grated cheese; if you have Parmesan or Pecorino, they will be perfect, you’ll smell how fragrant your stale bread will be now.
Now let’s move on to the liquids to include in this recipe. We’ve already added the lemon juice to the mussels, which are draining in the sink, so we have extra virgin olive oil and white wine left. I recommend pouring a tablespoon of EVO oil and then gradually adding the white wine as you mix the bread with the back of the spoon. To avoid overly liquid breadcrumbs for the coating, I suggest proceeding gradually with the wine. Indeed, the quantity could be excessive if your breadcrumbs are too finely grated.
Small variation: some people add half a garlic clove finely chopped or garlic powder. I don’t particularly like it; if I can, I avoid it altogether. I rarely keep it at home, so I didn’t include it in the ingredient list. My mother added it, so if you want to try the recipe faithfully to hers, you can add it.
Did you turn on the oven? I hope so because we are ready to bake; one more step and we’re there. So, set the oven to static mode at 350°F maximum 375°F. Take a baking tray and cover the bottom with a sheet of parchment paper. Take some scallop shells, of course, if you have them, otherwise, you can purchase a set of 4 pieces by clicking here, they are like mine. Place the shells in the tray and return to the mussels.
We have now prepared the bread for the crunchy coating and now we just have to use it for the mussels. Since they are ready, we can transfer the mussels directly into the bowl and work everything with the spoon to make the bread adhere to the surface of each one. Then, with our hands, we go to recover mussel by mussel to place them in the shells. In mine, there are roughly between 5 and 6 mussels, obviously depending on their size. Take small portions of bread to lightly cover the mussels so as not to leave them too exposed to the direct heat of the oven during cooking. Drizzle with a little olive oil, but really just a little, you shouldn’t drown them; otherwise, they will no longer be crunchy, a sprinkle of parsley, and off to the oven.
If you’re afraid that the coating is already too soggy, don’t add EVO oil; we can always do it before serving them at the table after checking the final cooking.
Let them cook from about 10 to 15 minutes, depending again on the size of the mussels. Make sure to put the tray in the oven only if it has already reached the correct temperature. In my case, the mussels were quite large, and I cooked them for 15 minutes at 375°F.
We are finally ready to serve our sea appetizer, the most delicious and fragrant baked mussels around. The memory of the flavors and smells of my mother’s kitchen, her laughter, and her way of seeing life, her dishes were always filled with joy and colors, and I hope I managed to convey them to you with the photos and this recipe!!! Remember, I wait for you every day in my kitchen with many quick, easy, and delicious recipes like this one, and I wish you a good appetite!!!
Tips for Baked Mussels with Breadcrumbs
I can advise cooking the mussels just before serving, as the cooking time is very short. This will prevent the mussels from drying out and becoming hard when reheated, instead of crunchy. This often happened when we prepared this sea appetizer too far in advance, and so all the work done did not have the same quality result as when freshly baked.
Other tips have already been found while reading the recipe itself, but I can tell you how to store them. That is, I would let the baked mussels cool to room temperature and then close them in plastic containers with lids to keep in the refrigerator for up to two days.
