Moules marinière

Moules marinière was the second course of my Saturday shellfish lunch from Kate Whiteman's The ultimate book of fish and shellfish.

I saw the mussels in the fishmongers. I never cooked mussels at home. Why not try?

I cut and started cooking the onions before I realised what the ingredients proportions were. There was too much onion for the amount of mussels so it ended up quite oniony. Not that I mind but it could taste more of the mussels. This is what happens when you are cooking 2 dishes at the same time...

Below is the original recipe, which uses 2kg of mussels, not the 400g I bought and cooked. It would have been so difficult to reduce the portions to just 400g mussels anyway...

Serves: 4 persons.

Ingredients:

• 2kg mussels
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 shallots, chopped
• 25g butter
• 300ml white wine
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 sprig of fresh thyme
• a bunch of parsley, chopped

Method:

1. Clean the mussels:
1. Scrub under cold running water, using a stiff brush to remove any sand or dirt. Scrape off any barnacles with a knife.
2. Give any open mussels a sharp tap: discard any that fail to close.
3. Pull out and discard the fibrous 'beard' that sprouts between the two halves of the shell.
   
   
   
2. Put the onion and the shallots in a large pan with the butter. Cook over a low heat until translucent.
   
   
   
3. Add the white wine, the bay leaf and the thyme. Bring to the boil.
   
   
   
4. Add the mussels, cover the pan tightly and steam over a high heat for 2min. Shake the pan vigorously and steam for 2min more. Shake again and steam until all the mussels have opened. Discard any closed ones.
   
   
   
   
   
   
5. Stir in the parsley and serve immediately.