Pasta with steamed mussels

Now that it's getting warmer, I'm starting to move away from hearty winter stewlike dishes in favor of simple pasta dishes with olive oil, garlic, and whatever else might be good with it. In this case, I decided to try my hand at mussels.

Aside from shrimp, cooking seafood intimidates me--it seems so easy to overcook, and in the case of mussels, clams, or oysters (reading, in my formative years, a Sweet Valley Twins book about vomit-heavy illness and hijinks caused by a carelessly prepared clams dish incident really didn't help), downright scary.

I couldn't have been more wrong--at least in the case of mussels. The hardest part of dealing with them is cleaning and prepping them, but steam them and they cook in a matter of minutes, seem forgiving even if you cook them a little long, and are sweet, somewhat briny, and delicious. A complete success on my first attempt. I've had some fishy tasting clams, but mussels are mild and wondeful on pasta tossed with the mussel broth and a bit of parsley and red pepper flakes. So simple yet so good, and the finished dish is quite pleasing to the eye.