Okay, I already posted this in the food section of the Lounge, but since mussels come up quite often on this board, and the Léon de Bruxelles restaurants are mentioned quite often, I thought it would be useful to show you what the dish of "moules marinières" looks like, because I know that lots of people have never had it.

Well, this is not the version served at Léon, although it looks exactly the same. This is the one I made at home tonight: http://tinyurl.com/yhwojq6

I would not buy packaged mussels, particularly if sealed in plastic. Mussels must breathe. When in France I always buy them from the <i>poissonier</i> (or even Leclerc) who gets them in bulk. In my mind, packaging represents an extra step between the consumer and the mussels' origin.

Thanks for posting! I loved your little vignette, packaging and all!!

We always prepare mussels while in France. We like the smaller Bouchot mussels.

I often make Mussels in Curry

1 or 2 onions (depending on size) cut in half & sliced thinley
Butter

Use about 1/4 lb of butter & cook the onions at med-low heat for about 30 mins or so, until they completly fall apart & are the consistendy of jam.

Pour in 1 1/4 cups of cream, bring to a boil & then put the mussels in the pan. The cream will be thinned by water released by the mussels

Steam the mussels until they open - about 5-7 mins

Strain the mussels/cream & return cream to the pan & sprinkle in about 1 or 2 TBS of curry & blend.

Put mussels in bowl & pour sauce over top

Other variation for mussels:

Use Fennel instead of Onions
Cream
splash of Pernod

Use Orange Juice & Creme Fraiche

Stu Dudley

<<because I know that lots of people have never had it.>>

Really? It's one of the most popular dishes in French restaurants/bistros in the USA, IME.

It looks delicious, though. I like the notion of chervil, and the ginger element. I like to put a bit of cream in mine, too (but I like to put a bit of cream in just about everything).

Oh my, looks wonderful. I need to grab a baguette and soak up that wonderful sauce (tell me you didn't throw it out!).

Kerouac..I love mussels..I do try to have some on each trip to Paris!!

Thanks for the pictures....

Joan

No - I agree that MANY people have never had mussels. A lot of Americans esp put them in the same category as snails. Often the only seafood they will eat is lobster or shrimp.

We had dinner in a seafood restaurant in Sorrento once and a couple of other americans who couldn;t read the menu asked us for help. They couldn't believe many of the foods - it turned out all they ate was shrimp cocktail (giant shrimps not the smaller ones often found in Italy) and lobster tails. The restaurant had a very nice selection of dishes (and I found the mussels delicious) but the other travelers went to look for a restaurant with "regular" food.

How many are ready to make a reservation for dinner Chez Jack?

I look forward to my favorites in France and here. Number one are oysters followed by moules but not in Paris. My favorite place for moules is in Trouville, Normandy at Les Vapeurs.
Second place in Belon Brittany at ChezJacky

Yep - I had all sorts of uncooked snails, crawley things at Chez Jacky in Belon. Used a straight pin to pick out the innards of some sort of small sea creature. My in-laws from Indiana would have cringed.

Stu Dudley

Stu, those are snails, I remember my first time in Paris
YEARS ago I was given the pin for the sea snails, my friend was horrified but We had them where I lived often.

Thank you, kerouac! As always, your photo essays make me feel like I'm in Paris! Though I don't cook and didn't like Mules when I tried them, your essay and photos make me want to try this!

s

Well, they really are super easy to make. I prefer moules à la crème, but I didn't have any sour cream on hand to throw in at the end.

Didn't know there was a Chez Jacky. OK, I'll change my reservation to Chez Kerouac.

Everyone in our family likes mussels and we actually have them quite often. When our younger son was at his pickiest-eating phase he liked both mussels and calamari, which helped a lot when we went out to eat and these were featured on the appetizer menu.

Saute some chopped shallot and tomatoes in your pot and saute lightly. Add some wine, the mussels and steam until just open. Add some grated Parmigianno and ENJOY.
We LOVE the row of restaurants facing the Gare du Nord for mussels--go each time in Paris.

Winkles that's the thing we ate with a pin!It was funny watchiung another American couple trying to suck them out of the shells rather than asking for advice from the waiter on how to get to the meat!

Wonderful! Thank you for the great photos and step-by-step recipe in glorious colour. The only thing I do different is I only put the parsley, (and I noticed yours was Italian which is the best), in the pot at the last minute.

The mussels you used were like we used to get here in certain supermarkets but ours were deep frozen in the plastic. Now we can only get them in the half shell(frozen) which means I don't have the pleasure of watching them pop open.
Despite Michael saying he wouldn't buy mussels in plastic - some of us have no choice - they are delicious and although I'm no an expert on mussels, think they taste every bit as good as fresh ones we had in St.Malo (except those were too small and too sandy).
Great post Kerouac, thanks!

Oh jeeez..just saw you used Chervil & spring onions not parsely! I also wanted to know how the ginger/garlic/shallot paste worked with the recipe?