Mussels Pasta Recipe - Cooking Frozen Mussels
Mussels pasta recipe is quick and relatively easy recipe to make. Cooking frozen mussels is practically the same as cooking fresh mussels - fresh mussels taste better, but frozen ones are available all year long ...
How to Cook Frozen Mussels
 Preparing mussels is easy. Put a tablespoon of olive oil in the cooking pot. If you are using olive oil, keep the heat low to moderate. |
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Garlic is very healthy plant, especially if you have garlic from backyard garden, but can be smelly :) |
Add sliced onions and one clove of garlic. If you have garlic with larger cloves, add just half of it.|
So, feel free to add what you like for meal like this. In my case, I add: some parsley, salt, pepper, half of the laurel leaf, white wine ... Cooking mussels using white wine gives mussels great flavor and aroma. If you are worried about alcohol in wine, don't worry, alcohol evaporates during cooking entirely. |
If you have time, let the onions and garlic fry for few minutes, until they are golden brown and then add other spices. If you don't have time, you can add spices and the rest of the ingredients into the pot right away.|
Well, I am using frozen mussels which I quickly defrosted with warm water in the strainer - for me, they are better cooked directly in the wine. If you like to experiment, try both ways. |
Right after adding wine, add mussels. Some people prefer adding mussels first and 'frying' mussels for minute or two before adding wine. Add some crushed tomatoes - this will give nice taste and coloration to the meal. |
Gently mix everything and let it cook on low heat until all alcohol evaporates - some 8-10 minutes will do fine. In the mean time, put water in another pot and cook whole grain pasta and peas in it - feel free to check Peas, Cheese, Pasta Salad recipe. |
 Wine has evaporated - mussels are cooked and ready to be served. |
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Bone appetite... |
Put the mussels on the plate with peas and pasta and serve warm.Calories in Mussels
Macro and micro nutrient content in mussels vary depending on the season and species, but generally, 100g of cleaned mussels has 12g of protein, 3.5g of carbohydrates, 2g of fats and no fibers - that is around 80 kcal, mostly from protein. Also, there is almost 0.5g of omega-3 per 100g of cleaned mussels.
Macronutrient content of this meal is given in the following table:
| Food | Amount | Protein | Carbs | Fats | Fibers |
| Mussels | 300g | 36g | 11g | 6g | 0g |
| Whole Grain Pasta | 50g | 6g | 32g | 1g | 6g |
| Peas | 100g | 5g | 13g | 0g | 5g |
| Olive Oil | 15g | 0g | 0g | 15g | 0g |
| Onions, Garlic etc. | ~75g | 0g | 4g | 0g | 1g |
| Total: | 47g | 60g | 22g | 12g | |
| Calories: | 188 kcal | 240 kcal | 198 kcal | - | |
That is around 630 kcal for a single meal - nice :o)
Anyway, if you are 100kg+ endomorph, you will really enjoy this meal - it is perfect meal as last solid meal before or first solid meal after workout.
For those needing less calories and less nutrients, feel free to decrease amounts - to cut on the protein, half the amount of mussels. To cut on the carbohydrates, you can cut pasta or peas, but amounts of these foods is already rather low - again, I am 100kg+ endomorph :o)
To cut the fats, decrease amount of olive oil used for cooking - just be aware that fats in this meal are really healthy (olive oil, mussels).
Fiber content is great - around 12g of fibers. This meal will keep you satiated for long and provide you with constant flow of energy for hours.
Just be sure to keep amount of garlic low :o)