Recipe: Mussels (Moules) Mariniere

Ingredients

• ½ cup small-dice shallots
• 1 cup of white wine or vermouth
• 4 lbs of mussels, washed well and beards removed (if any)
• 3-4 sprigs of fresh thyme
• In a large saucepan, sweat some white wine, celery, fennel, onion,
• bay leaf, leeks, garlic, thyme, shallots and pepper for about 5-10 minutes.
• Then add mussels all at once and cover to steam them. Should only take 2 to 3
• minutes. Remove from heat and strain mussels over a colander over a bowl to
• collect the liquid. (reserve ½ of steaming liquid for soup)
• Tomato concasse (recipe below)
• Return broth to the pot on medium high heat. Add cream and other
• ingredients. Taste for seasoning. Pour over mussels and serve immediately.
• Concasse is the French word for food that has been cut into large
• pieces.
• Tomatoes (peeled, seeded (with juice strained and reserved),
• roughly chopped, about 2-3 C)
• Onion (1/2 a large onion, diced)
• Garlic (2-3 cloves, minced)
• Basil (couple leaves, chiffonade)
• Sweat onions in olive oil for 8-10 minutes. * You could
• alternatively use shallots. Stir in tomatoes and garlic, and continue to cook,
• low and slow. Towards the end of cooking, add a bit of tomato paste to bring
• additional richness to the sauce. Adjust the consistency with the reserved
• tomato juice and taste it for seasoning. At the very end, add a couple leaves