Moules Mariniere

Michelle absolutely loves mussels.  In fact, we spent a good hour walking around the beach in Cannes on our honeymoon seeking out a restaurant that had Moules Mariniere on the menu.  It was the tail end of mussel season so a lot of places ran out already.  We finally found the perfect spot for lunch and Michelle had her moules and frites.

I have made mussels plenty of times before, but now every time we have them at the house it reminds us of our lunch on the beach in the French Riviera.  It may not seem like a quick weeknight meal, but the whole dish comes together in about 15 minutes.  

To recreate your own Cote d'Azur classic, you will need:

2 lbs of mussels

2 cloves of garlic

2 shallots

1 1/2 cups of dry white wine

1 teaspoon thyme

1 teaspoon tarragon

1 tablespoon of butter

1/3 cup chopped parsley

Bread to soak up the sauce (you're going to the store to buy mussels already, you might as well get a nice fresh baguette while you are there)

salt and pepper

To get started, thinly slice the shallots and chop the garlic and parsley.  If you have fresh herbs on hand go ahead and use those, but I typically used dried thyme and tarragon for mussels.  I hate buying herbs and seeing them go to waste if I don't need a lot.  

Make sure to scrub the mussels well and remove any beards.  The beards are any bits of seaweed or other sea matter that might be stuck in the mussels.  If you tap a mussel and they don't shut, that means they are already dead and no good.  Discard any open mussels.  

The Dutch Oven is perfect for this recipe, but if you don't have one, just use a good stock pot.  Melt the butter over medium high heat and saute the shallot and garlic for a couple of minutes until soft and fragrant.  After a minute or two add the parsley and herbs and cook for another couple of minutes.

Next, add the white wine to the pot and scrape up any brown bits that might be left on the bottom.   Then add the mussels and cover tightly with a lid.  Make sure to shake the pot from time to time so that they cook evenly.  The heat should remain in medium-high.  You don't want a super high boil, but you don't want a weak simmer either.

I love making a quick garlic bread for dipping.  A really simple approach is to drizzle olive oil over bread slices and brown in the cast iron skillet.  When the bread is toasty on both sides, run a piece of garlic over the hot toast.  A little goes a long way when using raw garlic.

After 10 minutes at the most, the mussels should be open.  Make sure to discard any mussels that have not opened on their own.

While the dutch oven is great to cook with, I usually transfer the mussels to another dish that is not super hot.  Transfer to serving dish and top with a bit more parsley.  Then just grub down and make sure to soak up all of the delicious sauce with the bread.

Seriously, a great dinner and hard to beat in just 15 minutes from start to finish.