Serves: 2
Preparation time: 2 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes
A quick-and-easy seafood treat to cook at home, prepared mussels can now be found in many supermarkets.
Ingredients
- 1kg (2lb 3oz) live mussels
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 150ml (5 fl oz) white wine
- 2 sprigs of thyme
- 150ml (5 fl oz) double cream
- Small bunch of flat-leaf parsley, leaves picked and chopped
- Crusty bread, to serve
Directions
1Rinse the mussels thoroughly under plenty of running water and pull off the stringy beards, throwing away any broken shells and any that don’t close tightly when you tap them.
2Take a large heavy-based pan with a snug-fitting lid and heat the olive oil. Add the onion and garlic and cook over a low heat for about five minutes until soft. Pour in the wine and as it boils and the alcohol burns off, add the mussels and thyme. Cover and let the mussels steam for three to four minutes. They are ready when the shells have opened. Add the cream and cook for one minute more.
3Scatter with parsley and serve immediately with crusty bread, remembering to discard any mussels that haven’t opened.
Extracted from Taste of France Magazine
Original recipe from James Martin’s French Adventure, published by Quadrille
