Moules Marinières

Moules Marinières

Moules Marinières

Moules Marinières is one of my all time favourites and probably the easiest recipe I have after boiling an egg! No, I’ll take that back this is easier than boiling an egg!

Anyway, I was daunted about cooking this for ages because of having to de-beard the mussels and making sure they were clean etc, but really nowadays you can buy farmed mussels which are generally cleaned already, so getting organic is not necessary.

This is a great meal to have with friends, very quick to make and you can put the pot on the table and dig in, (although we have nice serving bowls) and we pick at the moules and chat and drink large amounts of nicely chilled Muscadet. The Muscadet too is optional, but I feel it goes well with the moules and is sort of from that region.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

  • 3-4kg fresh, live mussels, scrubbed and de-bearded
  • 120g butter
  • 2 shallots, finely chopped
  • 500ml dry white wine, second thoughts use the whole bottle (I use Muscadet)
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • A good bunch of flat leafed parsley, finely chopped
  • 20ml Pernod or Noilly Prat

Preparation method:

In a very big pot melt the butter over a medium heat and when melted add the shallots and cook for a couple of minutes until golden, then add the wine and crank up the heat bringing it to a boil. Add salt and pepper to taste and the shot of Pernod/Noilly.

Dump in the mussels and slap the lid on the pot. Leave for about 10 minutes when the mussels should have all opened then give the pot a good couple of shakes, take off the lid and throw in a good handful of chopped parsley give the pot another good shake. You can at this stage also add a knob of butter if you want and then either serve from the pot or tip out into a large serving bowl and serve with a couple of nice fresh baguettes or some country bread to mop up the liquid.

To finish

Sprinkle or scatter chopped flat leaf parsley.

Enjoy!

Tip

I always use the same wine in the mussels that I am drinking with the mussels. Some recipes call for some cream to be added to the liquid but I don’t find it necessary.