French Country Mussels

I adapted this recipe from one I found on food.com by Tebo.

Ingredients:

4 lbs of mussels
2 cups of dry white wine
1 Tblsp. olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 16oz can of diced tomatoes
1 bunch of fresh cilantro, chopped (I use my food processor for this, it's much easier and quicker than doing it by hand)

Directions:

1. Prepare your mussels:

- Keep your mussels cold. If you get farm raised mussels, you'll not have to do much cleaning or de-bearding but you'll want to check each one for signs of life.

- Put the mussels in a large colander in your sink and run cold water over them as you work on them. If they're dirty, scrub them clean. Make sure you check each one to make sure they are all tightly closed. If you come across a mussel that is open, tap it a few times and set it aside. There's a good chance it will close by the time you get done with your pile of mussels. Mussels are still alive when you prepare them. They should be tightly closed. If they're open and don't close after tapping them, they are dead and therefore BAD. Throw any open mussels that do not close away.

- If you get farm raised mussels they likely won't have many beards but you'll want to check them anyway. If any of them have a beard (it's a little tuft or string of what looks like coarse hair), tug it down toward the hinge part of the mussel and it should come right out. Toss any beards you find.

2. Heat the olive oil in a large pot with a lid to medium high and cook garlic and onion until they are browned, about 5 minutes.

3. Add the tomatoes with their juice and the cilantro and cook for another 2 minutes.

4.Add the wine and bring it to a quick boil, reduce heat to let the wine simmer for about 4 minutes.

5. Add the mussels, toss well, cover and cook for about 5 minutes until they open up.

6. Remove the mussels to a serving dish and pour the liquid over them.

7. Enjoy with some crusty french bread to soak up the juices.