I love the briny flavour of mussels, so redolent of the
seaside. They are at their best over the winter months and are usually
relatively cheap as shellfish go. They are highly perishable so eat them as
soon as you can after purchase, or within 24 hours.
I adore them a la Marinière
with frites of course, and lots
of French bread to mop up the precious juices. Lately though, this is how I’ve
been cooking them:
For 4 servings redolent of the seaside you will need...
100mls dry cider (or dry
white wine)
100mls water
1kg mussels, rinsed
several times in cold water to remove excess grit and sand
2 tablespoons of extra
virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons of parsley
stems, very finely chopped
1 stick of celery, peeled
of stringy bits, and finely chopped
1 medium onion, finely
chopped
1 fat clove of garlic,
very finely chopped
2 medium potatoes, cut
into 1cm dice
approximately 250mls chicken
stock
a pinch of saffron*
soaked in 2 tablespoons of hot water for at least 20 minutes
freshly ground pepper to
taste
1 tablespoon corn flour
dissolved in 1 tablespoon of cold water
2 tablespoons freshly
chopped parsley leaf
1
First prepare the mussels: Discard any with broken shells and
any open mussels that fail to close when rapped sharply. Mussels use a fibrous
tangle of threads (or beard) to anchor themselves. Tug sharply on the beard in
the direction of the hinge (the narrow part of the shell) to remove it. For
this dish, I don’t bother removing any barnacles that cling to the shells as
I’m going to discard them once the mussels are cooked.
2
Pour
the cider (or wine) and water into a large saucepan and bring to the boil over
a high heat. When the liquid is boiling, tip in the mussels and cover with a
lid. Boil rapidly, occasionally shaking the pan back and forth over the heat so
that the fragrant steam cooks the mussels evenly. It will take 3 or 4 minutes
for the mussels to cook. The shells will open when they are done.
3
Remove
from the heat and tip into a colander over a bowl to catch the juices. Remove
the mussels from their shells (using ‘Neptune’s tweezers’) and set aside.
Strain the juices into a 1 litre measuring jug to remove any bits of sand or
grit (I usually get about 500mls of liquid from this quantity of mussels). Add
enough chicken stock to make the liquid up to 750mls.
4
Rinse
the saucepan clean and place it back on the hob over a medium heat. Heat the
olive oil then add the parsley stems, celery, and onion and cook without
colouring until the onion is soft and translucent (about 5 – 7 minutes).
5
Add
the garlic and cook for a further minute before adding the potato. Pour in the
mussel juices, strain the golden liquid from the saffron into the pan, and
bring to the boil. Simmer gently for about 12 minutes or until you can easily
crush a potato cube with the back of a fork. Stir in the corn flour and cook
for a minute or so until the soup thickens slightly. (If you want a thicker
chowder, lightly crush the potato cubes with a potato masher).
6
Add
the mussel meat and chopped parsley leaf to the chowder and allow to heat
through for a minute or so. Taste and add a little black pepper. I don’t add
salt. The chowder is usually salty enough from the mussels. Serve with this quick and easy fresh soda bread.
Note: The saffron doesn’t make much
difference to the flavour but improves the look of the dish no end, so put it
in if you have it.
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