Mussels & Chorizo, with or without pasta

It is rarely a "without" pasta in our houses.  For this recipe, we both voted for "with".  A winner for both, with slightly different interpretations........

Per Tricia~

All three of my guys love mussels, yet I can barely take watching them

 being eaten....let alone think of attempting to consume one myself. 

 Since I enjoy consuming almost everything else on the planet, 

I did not think it necessary for me to struggle with adding to

 my repertoire.  But I did step up to at least clean and prepare

 the little devils all by myself this week.  And I only squealed once  

or twice by a surprise barnacle....

The results ?  

Overwhelming delight.

 My younger son had such an extreme reaction to this dish I literally

 thought he had burned his mouth on a mussel !  He tasted the first and

 immediately drew in air loudly with an accompanying "oooh" sound.

  I had a panic and asked if he was alright or had burned his tongue. 

 Nope- he was simply in awe of how amazing it tasted.  Phew. 

 This mussels recipe, served over fettuccine, was a two thumbs up

 winner in this household. The only complaint at all was that I had

 halved the recipe.  They wanted more......

Per Nana~

I have always followed the traditional Italian way of cooking 

tomato sauce for hours and I find it quite time consuming.  I often 

wanted to make these various quick sauces which tend to be 

simple and lighter, but hubby likes his the old fashion way.  

This week's recipe was definitely a winner.

I made one change, using shrimp instead of mussels. 

 Years ago, while traveling in Belgium,  we visited a 

restaurant in Brussels famous for their mussels.  

 Hubby must have eaten one that was not good and was 

ill for days.  He has not  eaten a mussel since that trip and

 that is the reason for my substitution.

That said, this was one fantastic meal.

 

I only made half of the recipe, using about a dozen shrimp 

served over 1/2 pound of angel hair pasta.  The combination 

of  chorizo sausage and shrimp was so delicious that I know

this will be revisited again.