Mussels are tender and taste delightfully of the sea, but the real draw is the flavorful cooking liquid—which is drizzled over the mussels and sopped up with toasted baguette. Yum!
PREP TIME: 30 minutes
FUNCTION: Sauté (Normal); Steam
CLOSED POT TIME: 20 minutes
TOTAL TIME: 50 minutes
RELEASE: Quick
SERVES: 2 or 3 as a main dish; 4 to 6 as an appetizer
PREP
Select sauté on the Instant Pot® and adjust to normal. Add butter to pot. When butter is melted, add garlic and crushed red pepper. Cook and stir over medium heat for 1 minute or until garlic is fragrant but not browned. Press cancel. Add black pepper, thyme, bay leaf, and beer; stir to combine. Add mussels to pot. Secure the lid on the pot. Close the pressure-release valve.
COOK
Select steam and cook for 3 minutes. When cooking is complete, use a quick release to depressurize.
SERVE
Transfer mussels to serving bowls. Remove and discard bay leaf. Ladle with steaming liquid. Sprinkle with chopped parsley. If desired, garnish with lemon wedges and serve with toasted baguette slices for dipping.
*Tip: Cook mussels the day they are purchased. If using wild-harvested mussels, soak in a bowl of cold water for 20 minutes to help flush out grit and sand. (This is not necessary for farm-raised mussels.) Using a stiff brush, scrub mussels, one at a time, under cold running water. Debeard mussels about 10 to 15 minutes before cooking. The beard is the small cluster of fibers that emerges from the shell. To remove the beards, grasp the string between your thumb and forefinger and pull toward the hinge. You can also use pliers or fish tweezers. Be sure that the shell of each mussel is tightly closed. If any shells are open, tap them gently. Discard any mussels that don’t close within a few minutes. Discard any mussels with cracked or damaged shells.