Moules Mariniere (Mussels)

A few years ago when I was working as a chef in France, not in some really high class establishment that the rich and famous flock to I hear you ask, no, it was in a tourist spot and I had to provide some of the local culinary delights for the visiting tourists. One way of providing this was to do a buffet style meal for the final night of their holiday's each week. By then I knew whether or not it was safe to venture out amongst these guests and chat with them before they departed the next day (Joking, of course).

Part of the buffet would be the old French favourite of Frogs legs (cuisses de grenouille), so apart from the obvious gag I would hear many times every week (why do people think that it is a new joke when they say this one), do you have frogs legs?

No, I would reply, it's just the way I walk. Ha, ha. So funny, not.

Personally I think frog's legs to be very overrated, a bit like very thin chicken legs with a slight seafood taste. Lots of effort to cook for very little to show for it, and my question here is what do they do with the rest of the frog?

I do like snails, cooked in garlic butter and mop up the butter with lots of bread, very nice.

One of my favourite French dishes is Moules Mariniere, Mussels to most people. Before you just throw your bag of Mussels into a pot and cook them, there are a few things you should know. If you are buying the ready prepared variety, some of these you can get ready cooked even, then go ahead just throw them into the pot. By far the best way is to get fresh ones, they are normally sold loose in buckets if you are close to where the boats are landed, or you may buy them in nets. My advice is to buy fresh take them into your kitchen and clean them yourself. Start by scraping any growth off the shell, use a sharp knife for this and then de-beard them (the stringy bit), store them in a bucket of iced water until required (the sooner the better).

When you come to use them if any of the shells have opened do not use them, only use the sealed ones. Heat some butter in a pan, add some chopped onions and garlic and lightly cook, add the mussels as well as some white wine and some double cream. Bring the temperature up to it is almost boiling and then simmer with a lid on until the shells have all opened, serve immediately with some garlic bread. You can soak up the stock with the bread to leave completely clean plates, apart from the stack of shells.