Elizabeth David's moules marinière recipe

Details

• Cuisine: Mediterranean
• Recipe Type: Starter
• Difficulty: Easy
• Preparation Time: 10 mins
• Cooking Time: 15 mins
• Serves: 4

Step-by-step

1. Put the chopped onion, garlic, and celery into a large pan with the white wine and about 600ml/1 pint of water. Add pepper but not salt.
2. Put in the well-cleaned mussels, cover the pan and cook until the shells open.
3. Take out the mussels, keep them hot, and thicken the liquid in which they have cooked with 30g/1oz of butter and 15g/½oz of flour.
4. Pour the sauce over the mussels in a large tureen and sprinkle with parsley. Serve very hot.
5. To be eaten out of soup plates, with a fork and a soup spoon.
6. Another way is to prepare the sauce first; make a little white roux in the pan with butter, flour, chopped onion, celery and the white wine. Add the water and put the mussels in when the liquid has the consistency of a thin soup. The mussels can then be served directly they are opened, a great advantage, as they then do not lose their freshness and savour, which they are apt to do if they are reheated. On no account must the sauce be over-thickened, or you will simply have mussels in a white sauce.
7. Perhaps the most usual way of cooking moules marinière is simply to put the mussels into the pan with the white wine but no water, throw chopped parsley and onion or garlic over them as they are opening and serve as soon as they are all open.
8. Always serve plenty of French bread with moules marinière.