Spicy Mussels With Cauliflower, Basil and Lime

Since I live in a mountain village I use what’s available. For this recipe I used fresh fennel instead of cauliflower, a local sweet onion (Tropea) and Sicilian garlic. After sautéing I added while wine, lemon juice, some fresh thyme , fresh basil, home grown and dried cayenne and the mussels. I finish the dish with fresh basil and parsley The results were over the moon. Great as a soup, over rice or pasta. Will make it again

Very tasty. Tip: watch the mussels closely- mine cooked in about 3 minutes. Added cooked rice to the broth. Crusty bread is a must even with the rice.

I don’t know why this weird mix of flavors works but it does! And it’s delish!

Excellent don't change anything

I’m in Brittany, France where mussels in summer are the equivalent of street food. I tried this because it was original and different. And yet, while preparing it, I thought that this was not going to amount to much. What a great surprise in the flavor of the broth, which is really the whole point of a mussel dish. Yes to Melissa Clark’s acumen. Yes to my preparing this for the locals where my goal is to out-French the French.

I substituted fennel instead of cauliflower, as that was what I had. Added a little water since the fennel did not give off as much water as the cauliflower would have. It was excellent!

I doubled the recipe and then did not cook it in large enough pot. Had trouble getting the mussels to open. But once accomplished, I had leftovers. Removed the shells, added seafood broth from my freezer and wow got a second meal of a brothy soup. Possibly even better than round 1. Amazing. Thank you Melissa!

I must admit when I first saw this recipe it seemed very odd; i was just looking to refresh my memory of basic white wine garlic basil broth for mussels when I came across it. This was so much more interesting! I had only 1 lb. of mussels but kept the 2 cloves of garlic. And enjoyed the heat of both peppers.

I usually like Melissa Clark’s recipes, but this one didn’t do it for me. Usually recipes come to more than the sum of its parts, the magic of mixing ingredients creates something new and interesting. This didn’t happen for me here. It’s “just” mussels and cauliflower, just as disconnected as it sounds.

This recipe is absolutely perfect. I often increase the vegetables just because I want more of them, but do it as is and adjust flavors as necessary and you can't go wrong. Pro tip: using purple cauliflower/yellow/romanesco or a mix also makes it beautiful as well as delicious.

Very good - needed more oomph in the lime/pepper area.

I've made this numerous times, and it's easily my favourite mussel dish. Such complex flavours for such little work. I've used both sweet basil and thai basil in this dish. I've also substituted lime for lemon in some versions, and the dish does not suffer from these changes.

Save leftover mussel meat, cauliflower and broth to be tossed through with pasta or some rice for a satisfying lunch the next day.

Really good and easy. I used Thai basil from the garden. I will make it again.

This was extremely easy and delicious. I didn't have any hot red chiles, so I used a couple of serrano chiles, which I seeded. Partner it with some crusty French bread, a green salad and a fruity white wine--I had a Viognier that went very well.