Moules Mariniere

Moules mariniere (or my version of it anyway).  I'm not convinced traditionally that it's meant to contain cream or garlic for that matter but I don't care.  I like it with both!

Mussels can be surprisingly cheap to buy, this is less than £2 worth and, although I never have, they are so abundant on our shores, if you're sure of the water quality, you could even do a bit of foraging.

The key thing is to make sure that the mussels are live.  I will explain below.


Moules Mariniere - Serves 1 main course portion

Ingredients

400g, 14 oz Mussels*  (see note)
1 shallot (or a small onion)
a knob of butter
1 clove garlic
50ml, just less than 2 fl oz White wine
A splash, say 2 tsp double (heavy) cream
Parsley

Method

Finely chop the shallot and fry gently in the butter.  While that's cooking gently check over the mussels.

Give them a rinse under the tap then carefully remove the "beards" which look a bit like fuzzy brown bits of small wiry chest hair!  They are stuck pretty well on so use a small sharp knife.  If after the cleaning and the debearding they are still open, give them a small sharp tap on the shell, they should then shut, if they don't give them a quick rinse under a cold tap as a last chance and if they still don't close, throw them away because they're probably dead, also throw away any broken ones.  Because of this depending on how good your supplier is, you might need more mussels to get a good usable amount.  I reckon on about 10-30% wastage.

Give the shallots a stir now and again to make sure they're not burning.

Once the mussels have been checked over, add in the chopped garlic to the shallots and fry gently for a minute, then splash in the wine followed quickly by the mussels.  Put a lid on the pan and put on a medium heat for 5 minutes or until the mussels are open and cooked (they will be open wide).  When cooked push to one side, add in the cream to the sauce and a few sprigs of chopped parsley.

Serve in a bowl, ideally reserve a dsp of sauce in the pan as this is likely to retain any grit.  Throw any away which haven't opened and serve with crusty bread for dunking.

I've linked this up to recipe of the week.

I've linked this up to real food Fridays!

I've linked this up to This Was Yum!