By Patrick Carpenter, http://patrickcarpenter.blogspot.com/
moules marinières
A rule of thumb I have when looking at a fishmonger’s slab is, if the fish look a bit sad and dull and not very fresh, I go for the mussels; at least you know that they’re alive and therefore fresh (unless they’re dead of course). In the picture below I am reacting to the fish man’s question on how many kilos I want; I never know what to say but am showing him the rough quantity I want using my hands. I think this equated to 2 kg, so good for 2 people (and at only £6, a cheap treat).
How much?
Mussels are widely grown all around the Kingdom’s coasts and yet I don’t think we eat enough of them. Perhaps if they weren’t such good value we might not take them for granted and could treat them with a little more reverence. These came from Brancaster in Norfolk.
A drop of cream is always good to add to moules marinières if you have any but it is optional. On the recent Master Chef competition on television the judge John Torode marked down the contestants who had added cream and said “it’s just wrong!” Well, his French pronunciation is not only “just wrong”, it’s downright painful to hear. But, we’ll let him off if he allows us to occasionally add cream to “moolz”.
Moules Marinières & Muscadet
This post has been reproduced with the kind permission of the author. We seriously love his stuff. He is both a real foody and a serious wine geek. just like us!
Tags: Bloogers, food and wine, Muscadet, patrick Carpenter
Cream and shellfish an undoubted winner, Patrick but I do like it without. I once read somewhere that you are supposed to reduce down the mussel broth and whisk in some butter to finish but that always sounds like a monumental faff and likely to result in cold moules. Have you ever bothered?
On the wine front, Muscadet is the undoubted fruits de mer king but for a more off beat choice, I reckon a modern bone-dry Greek white might be up to the job too.
Gareth, I do the reducing before the mussels go in because yes you risk cold mussels otherwise. The butter can go in at any time; you can even sweat the shallots in butter before adding the wine.
I agree there are off beat contenders to the fruits de mer throne including bone-dry Greek (Assyrtiko from Santorini say?), Txacoli from Basque country, modern Vinho Verde, Picpoul de Pinet… and refreshingly, nothing from the New World that I can think of! Muscadet, watch out!!
that video has made me super hungry Patrick!
Winewise — crisp is the way to go everytime…right now I’m into the Pays de Ger stuff.
Louis, yes, crisp is vital! If you hop across the border down from the Gers do try Txacoli if you haven’t yet. Best producer Txomin Etxaniz, in Getaria. Though around there they are more into goose-necked barnacles than mussels!
Txakoli…yum. Add to this the traditional pouring http://www.dompannell.com/Txacoli.JPG and you’re up for a real treat.
Here’s a sort-of-generic Spanish recipe for mussels. I say ‘generic’ because every single Spaniard I’ve talked to about cooking mussels over the last 15 years has a different version!!!! They are all basically the same, but at the same time all different!
First, make a ‘sofrito’, ie fry up finely chopped garlic and/or onion and/or celery and/or carrot and/or tomatoes and/or anything else you find in the fridge, in olive oil, being careful not to burn the ingredients, which is easy to do as they’re small, and if you get distracted for over 10 seconds! This should only take about 2-3 mins.
Then, throw in the mussels, which should be cleaned and scraped beforehand, and stir around for about 20-30 secs. Then pour in a few glasses of white wine. (important: you should use GOOD white wine, not horrible stuff that you wouldn’t drink in its own right, as it will spoil the taste completely if you do that). Cover the pot, turn up the heat and let the mussels cook in the steam generated by the wine.
Lastly, and optionally, when the mussels have opened and are cooked (after about 4-5 mins, depending) you can throw in some chopped parsley and/or pepper and stir it around quickly before serving up.
Eat the mussels and slurp the ‘broth’ using an empty mussel shell, accompanied by the same good wine you just used for the cooking.
And this will presumably work best with Vinos Amiz’s Airén?
Ha! ha! I confess that I’ve done that myself, but I don’t think anyone else has, that I know of