We both love mussels. What's that you say? That song wasn't about seafood? Oh well. Diana's loss. We enjoyed mussels for lunch on Saturday. Ken got two kilos (that's a lot for two people) because the vendor had a special. Two kilos cost less than one and a half.
We rinsed the mussels in fresh water then began the process of removing the beards while looking for broken shells or mussels that wouldn't close. There were maybe ten like that and they got discarded. The rest went into a sauce made with white wine, chopped onion, and some garlic, to steam. After they opened, they got sprinkled with chopped parsley.
To finish them off, Ken added cream to the sauce making our classic moules marinière into moules à la crème. They were delicious served with frites (French fries), as is the custom. We drank a chardonnay from Mâcon (in Burgundy) along side.
And again my mouth is watering!
ReplyDeleteI love both moules marinières and moules à la crème. I wish I were there to help you finish the dish! I bet they were delicious.
ReplyDeleteYum!
ReplyDeleteMy soul swoons
ReplyDeleteOn my (culinary) bucket list is to someday cook mussels. Alas there is no fresh mussels around these parts to try.
Ooooh, yumm!
ReplyDeleteThose mussels look wonderful.
ReplyDeleteI am puzzled. *Surely you meant "would not open" rather than "would not close." Roderick
ReplyDeleteDo you have a picture of the finished dish? Not sure I've ever seen them à la crème. It all sounds immensely delicious.
ReplyDeleteLook at this post, Emm.
Deletemitch, good!
ReplyDeletechm, they were. I like both styles as well. It's hard to choose!
bettyann, you can say that again!
michael, I'm sure it's not easy to find fresh mussels in the desert. I've tried frozen (already shelled) and they were not anywhere near as good as fresh ones.
judy, memories, eh? :)
chris, they were darned good. We're lucky that some of the market fish mongers come from the Atlantic coast.
roderick, yes, once they're cooked, mussels that don't open should be discarded. Likewise, mussels that won't close while they're still alive (before cooking) have likely died and should be tossed out.
emm, no, but they abound on the internet. It's a classic way of preparing them.