Mussels In Wine And Garlic - Moules Mariniere
Today I'm showing another classic recipe, mussels cooked in a saucepan. I really want you to read it carefully and not be afraid to step out of the daily soup and steak routine! Of course it's easier to cook whatever is more handy, but lately it's been less hard to find fresh mussels for a decent price. It's so nice to enjoy an interesting, special, classic dinner... we like it a lot! Mussels cooked in a saucepan, or mussels in wine and garlic - I'd say it's the cheapest and the most accessible seafood dish. It looks impressive and it's very tasty if you serve it next to a crispy baguette and freshly sqeezed lemon juice.
In restaurants, this dish can be found as Moules Mariniere or Mussels Mariniere and it's, in fact, the simplest and the most accessible way of cooking mussels. They are the main ingredient and the rest is only meant to enhance their flavour. So you want to pick fresh mussels which smell like sea water and not like stale fish. Do not buy mussels of questionable quality, which are stale or smelling of fish, better cook the recipe another time.
The first and the most important step is to pick the right mussels. They should look good and smell like salty sea water - if they smell even slightly of stale fish, don't buy them!
Try to find the exact day when the mussels were delivered, it's really important.
I found mussels for 11 lei/kilo and I bought 2 kilos. After cleaning, they won't be 2 kilos anymore and I wanted to make sure we will have enough :)
Place mussels in a big bowl, pour cold water and let sit for 20 minutes.
After this time, drain the water, discard any broken/cracked mussels. You can give a second chance to the open ones - knock them against the table and if they don't close in 1-2 minutes, discard.
Now starts the painstaking process, I would even recommend wearing some gloves.
- debeard all the mussels, remove the strings by pulling hard;
- rub the shells with a scrubber;
- you can also use a knife to clean the harder bits, but don't insist too much, they don't do much trouble;
These are the mussels cleaned, I rinse again thoroughly once or twice and place in a colander to drain, while I take care of the rest of the ingredients.
Out of the 2 kilos mussels, I discarded about 500g, so I guessed correctly.
Now peel and wash the garlic, onion, parsley and thyme.
Finely chop all of them, except for the thyme.
Pick a good demi-sec white wine.
Heat the oil and the butter in a large deep skillet (or a heavy-bottomed pot).
Stir in the finely chopped onion and cook for 3-5 minutes.
Then add in the chopped garlic, stir and cook for another minute.
Add the mussels to the saucepan.
Pour in the wine.
If you have, add a small branch of thyme.
Mix well with a spoon or shake the saucepan.
Cover with a lid and simmer for 4-5 minutes over high heat.
During this while, shake the pot 2 more times.
Scatter with chopped parsley, a little salt and pepper to taste.
Stir well, turn the heat off and let sit for another 5-10 minutes with the lid on, for all the flavours to blend.
Meanwhile, toast some slices of fresh baguette on a grill pan - to do it by the book :)
You can rub each slice of bread with a piece of garlic, if you like it.
Divide the mussels among the plates, making sure to discard the ones which haven't opened.
Pour over some cooking broth.
Serve next to baguette toast and sprinkled with some lemon juice.
We ate the mussels with great pleasure!
Enjoy!
