Cajun Mussels with Sausage and Zucchini
with tomato broth / baguette
Smarts: If you like spicy foods, use chorizo or hot Italian sausage in the dish. Otherwise, mild Italian sausage will give you all the flavor without as much spice.
Ingredients
- Zucchini - 1 lb, cubed
- Mussels, cleaned and debearded - 1 1/2 lbs
- Cilantro - 1/4 cup, chopped
- Oil, cooking - 1 Tbsp
- Italian sausage, mild or hot - 10 oz (sub chorizo)
- Tomato paste - 1 Tbsp
- Cajun seasoning - 2 tsp
- Thyme, dried - 1 tsp
- Tomatoes, diced (14 oz / 397 g) - 1 can
- Stock, any type - 1 cup
- Wine, white - 1/4 cup (sub stock)
- Bay leaves - 2
- Lemon juice - 1 Tbsp
- Baguette, for serving - 8 oz
Nutrition Facts
Prep
- Zucchini - Cube zucchini. (Can be done up to 5 days ahead)
- Mussels - Clean and debeard mussels (this is usually done by your fishmonger, but in the rare case that yours did not come debearded, here’s a demo from The Kitchn). Scrub and soak in a bowl of water. (Can be done 1 day ahead)
- Cilantro - Chop cilantro leaves.
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Make
- Heat a Dutch oven or large saute pan with a lid over medium-high heat. Add oil and then sausage to heated oil. Cook sausage, breaking it apart as it cooks, until nearly cooked through, 5 to 6 minutes.
- Add zucchini and saute until zucchini starts to soften, ~4 minutes more.
- Stir in tomato paste, Cajun seasoning, and thyme until fragrant, ~1 minute.
- Add tomatoes (including liquid), stock, wine, and bay leaves and bring to a simmer.
- Add mussels and cover. Cook, covered, until mussels have opened up, 5 to 6 minutes. (If any mussels don’t open, simply discard them.)
- Squeeze lemon juice over mussels. Taste broth and season with some salt and pepper if needed. Discard bay leaves.
- Divide mussels and broth between serving bowls. Top bowls with cilantro. Serve with baguette. Enjoy!
Nutrition Facts
Reviews
Ratings
14 reviews
I made this with real sausage (I went to alternatives because I didn’t want to cook mussels, but I’m not a vegetarian. Everyone loved this.
0 HelpfulThis was delicious! My husband, who is definitely a carnivore, gets excited when I make this. About to make it four the fourth time since published. The adults at my house love this one!
0 HelpfulTruly excellent. I’ve made this about 10 times including once for a group of 35. Everybody has loved it. By making the vegetarian version I’m able to feed a large group; both meat eaters and vegetarians love it. I use Lightlife brand “smart” Italian sausage and Emeril’s Cajun spice. Italian seasoning is a great substitute for the thyme. I also found that adding a red bell pepper adds some nice color. Forgot the bay leaves once and it was still delicious.
0 Helpful