Muscles

Muscles...
The kind you eat... not the kind that I'm desperately lacking.


The first time I ever had muscles was shortly after I moved to Ireland. I had no idea where I was going to live, no idea how I was going to live, and was in slight panic mode- but by God- I was going to eat some freshly caught seafood since I was finally living by the water! And eat them I did- an entire buckets worth. New food adventure in a new restaurant, in a new town, in a new city. It was a night to remember, and something I vowed I would do as often as possible.

Fast forward 4 years and I'm living back on the coast- fresh and tasty seafood served everywhere- and I'm here with a husband who hates it (or at least anything seafood that calls a shell a home). I have to wait until he leaves for an evening so I can cook it- and on Friday he had a night-flight- so I took full advantage.

I decided to make muscles for the first time ever. Its one of the less-expensive seafood delights you can find at the market. I bought a 2lb bag, knowing full well I can take down a ton of those things in a short amount of time, and looked up recipes online. I took what I loved of a bunch of recipes (and what was available in my fridge and pantry) that I found and here is what I came up with...

Muscles in Tomato and White Wine Sauce

Ingredients:

* 1 lb muscles, cleaned
* olive oil
* 1 small white onion, diced
* 1 glove garlic, minced
* 2 cans diced tomatoes (I used one regular, one italian)
* 1 small can tomato paste
* 1/2 cup dry white wine
* seasoning of your choice- I used some italian seasoning and salt and pepper

To Make:

* Add olive oil to a pan and heat over medium heat. Add diced onion and cook until softened. Add minced garlic.

* Add diced tomatoes, tomato paste, and seasoning to onion and garlic mixture, stir, and cook until bubbly. Slowly add white wine and simmer.

* Steam muscles until they pop open. Add opened muscles to tomato mixture and simmer for 10 minutes.

* Serve muscles in a bowl and pour tomato sauce over them. Eat muscles with a giant scoop of tomato sauce. Enjoy.