Soooo in the mood for mussels, I am very lucky that I live with one foot in the countryside and one foot on the beach and this morning after a lovely family wonder down the seafront smelling the gorgeous salty sea air we were all in the mood for mussels, with great rock pools and wave cut platforms all along the miles of beach we have we are able to forage our mussels.
When it comes to cooking this gorgeous shellfish, some of us, (most my family) love them cooked in the traditional way and then their is me who loves them traditional ish! with lashings of double cream, we all agree on a side bowl of French skinny frites and hunks of fresh warm bread that you can dunk dunk and dunk in that gorgeous mussel stock white wine sauce.
Prep Time 10 minutes / Cooking Time 5-7 minutes
Ingredients
(Serves 3-4)
2 kg fresh live mussels
2 tbsp butter
2 glugs olive oil
1 large onion diced
2 cloves garlic finely diced
1 small handful parsley finely chopped
Sea salt
Ground black pepper
1 bottle good quality dry white wine
500ml double cream
Accompaniments
Hunks of fresh warm crusty bread or french skinny frites, (fries).
First fill you sink with cold water and plonk in all the mussels, leave to soak for few minutes then remove, any beards, do this by pulling at any wiry strings until they come away from the shells, these wiry strings are what help the mussel stay attached to rocks.
In two deep pans with lids, divide the butter, oil, diced onion and garlic, gently pan fry until translucence, approx six minutes, crank up the heat to hot and add the mussels half in each pan, toss the mussels in the onions and pop on the lid to create a steam bath. Leave for one minute, then add half a bottle of wine to each pan and pop the lid back on, leave on a high heat and steam the mussels for 3-4 minutes until all the mussels have opened, holding the lid on the pan shake to stir the mussels.
At this point if you are in the traditional Moules Mariniere camp sprinkle with salt, pepper and parsley and serve in all thier glorious white wine juices. If like me you want the same gorgeous mussels in that white wine stock but with a decadently ramped up double cream richness, then at this point add your double cream, around 250ml per pan will do it, then finish as the traditional with some salt, pepper and parsley.
Serve immediately in deep bowls with hunks of fresh warm crusty bread or even better thin French frites, dunk away, dunk away!
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