Image: bbc.co.uk/food
Mussels are in season in any month that has an ‘R’ is the old British adage, and this classic French\Belgian recipe is a restaurant classic which is deceptively easy to replicate at home. Although I love the mussels, my favourite part of the dish is the creamy white wine sauce, mopped up with fresh crusty bread, like a home-made Irish Soda Bread.
Ingredients
- 1.75kg fresh live mussels
- 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
- 2 shallots, finely chopped
- 15g butter
- a bouquet garni of tied parsley stalks, thyme stems and bay leaves
- 100ml dry white wine or cider
- 120ml double cream
- handful of parsley leaves, coarsley chopped
Serves 4 – Gluten Free*
Method
- Wash the mussels under plenty of cold, running water, discarding any open ones that won’t close when lightly squeezed ot tapped.
- Pull out the tough, fibrous beards protruding from between the tightly closed shells and then knock off any barnacles with the back of a large knife, giving the mussels another quick rinse to remove any little pieces of shell and beard.
- Soften the garlic and shallots in the butter with the bouquet garni, in a large pan big enough to take all the mussels (it should only be half full so that thay have enough space to steam).
- Add the mussels and wine or cider, turn up the heat, then cover and steam them open in their own juices for 3-4 minutes.
- Give the pan a good shake every now and then.
- Remove the bouquet garni, add the cream and chopped parsley and remove from the heat.
- Spoon into four large warmed bowls (discarding any closed mussels)
Serve with lots of crusty bread (chose your favourtie Gluten free bread for a gluten free version), to mop up the creamy sauce.
*Gluten Free – Although I make every effort to ensure that the ingredients list are gluten free, you should double check at the time of using as products change their base ingredients frequently
