Moules marinières

Moules marinières is a classic French dish and can be found everywhere this time of year, a lot of chefs tweak it to make it their own and this is how I do them. It surprises me that more people do not buy their own fresh mussels and make this dish at home as it takes minutes to cook and is so tasty with a chunk of crusty bread to mop up the sauce. I have cooked this dish many times and I always have had positive feedback.

To prepare the mussels for cooking, scrub and remove their barnacles and their beards, make sure they are clean on the outside, if they are open give them a tap and if they do not start to close then they are dead so discard them, I find you do not need to add salt to this dish as when the mussels cook and open they will release a little salt water themselves.

Debearding Mussels

Ingredients:

1 small bowl of fresh mussels prepared for cooking

20g butter

1 shallot peeled and chopped

1 clove garlic peeled at chopped

150 ml white wine

100 ml double cream

Chopped parsley

To serve:

Lemon wedges

Crusty bread

Method:

Melt the butter on a low heat in a pan that will easily hold all the mussels, once melted add the shallot and garlic and sauté for a minute then turn up the heat add the mussels and white wine then put a tight fitting lid on it.

Cook for 3-4 minutes shaking the pan from time to time so the mussels cook evenly, after 3 minutes remove lid and take out the that still will not open then discard them.

Cover the mussels so they stay hot and then sieve the white wine to remove any grit in the pan, drain half the wine then add the cream and parsley and turn heat on full, boil and slightly reduce the cream then pour the mix over the mussels and garnish with lemon and serve with crusty bread.