Moules Marinière
Who doesn’t like a good mussel? We certainly do! Why do so many restaurants insist on adding cream to them though? Moules Marinière does not involve cream, Moules à la Crème does! Some of us don’t want cream with our mussels and classic Moules Marinière doesn’t have it! If you want some really good mussels Saint-Valery-sur-Somme is the place to go. There are many restaurants in this pretty French town and almost all of them specialise in mussels. People visit from all over France just to taste the mussels which are grown on ropes in the bay of the Somme. Ideally you do need a Mussels Pot (mould à moules), we got ours in France but you can get them from on Amazon too!
Moules Marinière
Servings: 4 people
Calories: 443kcal
Ingredients
- 200 g Butter
- 4 large Banana Shallots coarsely chopped
- 2 ltrs Mussels cleaned and in their shells
- 4 glass White Wine one per pot, we use Pinot Grigio
- 1 bunch Chives
Instructions
- Firstly clean the mussels and remove any 'beards' from them. If any mussels are open or partially open give them a tap on the work surface – if they don't close up, discard them.
- Peel and chop the shallots and distribute evenly amongst the mussel pans with 60g of butter in each.
- Turn the heat on low and gently cook the shallots until they are soft and translucent. Don't let them colour, they will taste bitter! This usually takes around 5 minutes.
- Once the shallots are softened throw 500ml of mussels into each pan, coarsley chop the chives and distribute them evenly between the pans, add a glass of wine to each pot, put the lid on and turn up the heat.
- The mussels are ready once they've opened which will take no more than 4-5 minutes.
- Serve immediately with french fries and some crusty baguette to soak up the lovely juices! Remember to discard any that haven't opened.
Nutrition
Calories: 443kcal | Carbohydrates: 10g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 41g | Saturated Fat: 26g | Cholesterol: 108mg | Sodium: 372mg | Potassium: 242mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 2493IU | Vitamin C: 25mg | Calcium: 54mg | Iron: 1mg
Surely Raymond Blanc and Rick stein know what they are talking about when both their recipes for moules mariniere includes cream.
I live in France and that’s the recipe used here.
Raymond Blanc and Rick Stein are wrong. Saint-Valery-sur-Somme is widely regarded as one of the best locations in France for mussels. They sell Moules Marinière and they sell Moules à la Crème. Moules Marinière does not have cream in it. Moules à la Crème does. Here is a French recipe for Moules Marinière https://chefsimon.com/gourmets/chef-simon/recettes/moules-mariniere–3
What is the difference of mussel pot and a normal saucepan please? Also is 2 litres of mussels approx 1kg?
There really isn’t any tangible difference between a mussel pot and a saucepan. A saucepan is fine to cook mussels. 2 litres of mussels would be just over 1kg.