A simple classic Moules Marinière

For the classic, simple Bretagne ‘Moules Marinière’, the mussels are cooked with white wine and water; I am sure those Bretagne sailors’ wives would have used water only. These days various cooks use cider, beer or even red wine. Add a bouquet garni of bay leaf, parsley, celery stalk, thyme and peppercorns, plus a diced onion and 2 or 3 cloves of garlic, also diced. The mussels are cooked in a large pot, as below in my recipe, and, when cooked and open, they are put into individual, large soup bowls; cream can be added to the cooking liquor and then it is strained over the mussels, and, there you have it, a very simple lunch of mussels in a mussel broth.
Recipes for ‘Moules Marinière’ appear in many famous cookery books including those of Elizabeth David, Julia Child, Rick Stein, Paul Bocuse, Phillipe Mouchel and MFK Fisher; there are countless others!
There are therefore many versions of Moules Marinière. Some add a beurre manié, of 1 tbsp of flour and 1 tbsp butter worked into a paste to thicken the liquid, others make a roux with butter and flour, cooked first in the pan with the onion, celery, garlic and white wine. For lunch, I frequently make this simple, classic moules marinière version.

Ingredients:

2kg mussels
25g butter
20ml olive oil
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
3e eschallots, finely chopped
a bouquet garni of parsley, celery, thyme and bay leaves
250ml dry white wine or cider
250ml double cream
Garnish
A handful of parsley leaves, coarsely chopped
Lemon wedges

Method:

To prepare the mussels: discard any open mussels that won’t close when lightly squeezed. Remove the tough, fibrous beards, byssus threads, protruding from between the tightly closed shells; knock off any barnacles with a large knife.
To cook the mussels: take a large pot, big enough to take all the mussels; it should only be half full. Alternativity, use 2 large pots and cook the mussels in 2 batches. Add the butter, olive oil and the eschallots, sauté over low heat for about 10 minutes; add the garlic and the bouquet garni and sauté another minute or so.
Add the wine or cider, turn up the heat, and when boiling, add the mussels, then cover and steam them open in their own juices for 3-4 minutes. Give the pan a good shake every now and then to distribute the heat more evenly. As the mussels open, remove them and divide between the 4 large, warmed serving bowls.
Strain the cooking liquor into a large jug, to ensure there is not grit in the soup, and pour it into four large warmed bowls.
Garnish with a sprinkling of the chopped parsley
Traditionally in France, moules mariniere is served with a bowl of pommes frites or crusty bread and the French, pluck each mussel from its shell with another shell used as a pincer.