Mussels in Chilli Tomato Sauce

Does the thought of omitting recipe ingredients stress you out? I'm here to tell you food is much simpler than you think and that your omission of ingredients is neither here nor there!

Also does the thought of seafood stress you? Mussels are so easy to cook and they are budget friendly (remember I am saving for a house!)

I made this on a Wednesday in less than 30mins, I had James de-beard the mussels which sounds far worse that it actually is - I've done this before, you just grab the little 'beard' thing and pull it up and out/down sorta thing, there are plenty of you-tube videos on this!

We went to the shops and they were on special for $5/kg and New Zealand produce which is all I would buy aside from Australian produce, so I googled a few recipes and found this one from taste.com

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 brown onion, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed 
• 2 small red chillies, deseeded, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1kg tomatoes, finely chopped
• 1 lemon, rind finely grated, juiced
• 2 teaspoons caster sugar
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1.5kg mussels, beards removed (see note)
• 1/2 cup flat-leaf parsley leaves, roughly chopped
• crusty bread, to serve

As you can see what I had didn't really match up but the principle is the same.

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 brown onion sliced
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic
• 2 tins of diced tomato
• 2 fresh tomatoes chopped up (that's all we had )
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 Birdseye chillis (seeds left in)
• 2 teaspoon hot flaked chilli
• 1 kg mussels - de bearded
• 3 tablespoons parsley (I just had the herb tube)
• 1/2 cup pitted kalamata olives

Method:

1. Heat oil in a large pan, with garlic, after a minute add onion, fresh and tinned tomatoes
2. Let it thicken a little and add all other ingredients except olives and mussels
3. Cook this on a medium temperature for about 15 minutes
4. Add water if you think it is too thick
5. Add mussels and olives and cover, cook for 7-10 mins shaking it a few times to coat mussels
6. Take off the heat and serve!!
7. Can serve with bread or home-made garlic bread! (Just mix a little minced garlic with butter, spread on bread and grill)