Ahoy There! Moules Marinières - French Sailor's Mussels

"I adore moules, mussels, and this is the classic French recipe for them. Moules Marinières is also commonly known as Sailor's mussels or Mariner's mussels. The dish consists of delicately steamed fresh mussels in a white wine, garlic, parsley, butter, onion and cream sauce. Moules Marinières can be served as an appetising starter or even a light main meal. It is delicious served with fresh crusty bread or with frites (chips/fries). There is nothing more mouth-watering than a huge bowl of artistically presented mussels, yet the fun part is eating them. The best way is to use an empty mussel shell as the "spoon" in which to pick the remaining mussels from their shells and then eat them. It's a brilliant excuse to use your fingers to eat rather than the usual knife and for - very tactile! A traditional French recipe will use butter, however the butter may be substituted for a few tablespoons of olive oil for a healthier option - I sometimes use a mix of butter and olive oil I hope you find the step-by-step photos helpful, this recipe was used in the September 2008 Cooking School for the TOTM - hopefully, the photos will debunk the myth that mussels are hard to prepare and cook, NOT so! Bon Appétit!"
 
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photo by French Tart photo by French Tart
photo by French Tart
photo by Rita1652 photo by Rita1652
photo by IngridH photo by IngridH
photo by French Tart photo by French Tart
photo by French Tart photo by French Tart
Ready In:
35mins
Ingredients:
8
Serves:
2
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ingredients

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directions

  • Place the live mussels in fresh water. Scrub and debeard the mussels (see the photos), discarding any that are open, broken or cracked.
  • Fry the chopped onion and chopped garlic cloves (over medium heat) in a little butter (or oil) in the biggest saucepan you have. Add half of the finely chopped fresh herbs - I have used a mixture of parsley, oregano and tarragon. Season with black pepper, wait to season with salt to taste later.
  • Add the white wine to the butter and herbs, and then tip in the freshly cleaned mussels - turn up the heat to high. Cover the pan and let the mussels steam for about 5 minutes. Shake the pan every minute or so to coat the mussels in the liquid.
  • Take the pan off the heat and add the double cream or creme fraiche; then add of the remaining finely chopped herbs. Mix through thoroughly. That's it! Enjoy with crusty bread, frites and a chilled white wine -- divine!
  • NB: Discard any mussels that don't open during cooking. (see photos).

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Reviews

  1. Have made Moules Marinières many times before, but not your recipe. Thanks, FT, for your perfectly easy recipe -- I was looking for the basic recipe and could not recall it. Unfortunately as I write this it is midwinter in South Africa: I used defrosted New Zealand green-lipped mussels on the half-shell (great, actually), but fresh herbs are thin on the ground right now! I did have my own Italian parsley, and used more than specified, ditto fresh thyme (so hardy). I also added a lot of chopped spring/green onion. No other fresh herbs available, but those were fine. I stayed with your recipe, but admit I added a soupçon more wine -- maybe 250 ml, maybe 200 ml. I cannot understand one reviewer saying she'll add less wine next time!! In the end, with maybe evaporation, the wine I used was just enough and there was a lovely thin creamy sauce in the end. Such an easy, classic recipe. I'd say to others: don't change a thing, follow instructions, do use butter, and rather use a splash more (good) wine than less!! Thanks, Tarty!!! PS: I see my efforts at correct spelling produce strange effects!! I meant Marinieres with the accent, and soupcon with the cedille ... but it comes out funny!!! LOL!
     
  2. We made these for our New Years Eve supper. First time cooking mussels. We both enjoyed them for something new, the recipe was easy to follow, the only thing I would do differently is up the garlic and maybe my cloves were smaller and I think I would step it up from plain old parsley and add the recommended taragon or something for a bit more flavor, we played it simple the first time around. Definately will make again now I know how easy they are to make. Thanks for a great simple recipe.
     
  3. I have one friend that is vegetarian, but will eat some seafood. So it is a challenge to find something that is agreeable to everyone. Well this dish certainly fit the bill....it was excellent! I doubled the recipe, using 5 lb of mussels...added a bit more garlic....used Italian parsley and oregano and creme fraiche. I served this with PCrocker's Crusty French Bread to soak up all the lovely juices. This dish was better than any mussel dish I have had in restaurants. The creme fraiche was definately worth the time and effort to make....I thought it made the meal! If you love mussels, I highly recommend this dish. Kudos, French Tart.... kudos!!!
     
  4. LOVED, LOVED, LOVED!!!!! Made these for Valentines day and just devoured them!!! I let my DH have some too! LOL!!! Will definately make these again!!
     
  5. This was my first time making mussels. Your pictures and instructions were awesome, thank you! These turned out perfect. They were so delicious and tender. I think the tarragon and butter pair well and gave it a wonderful flavor. I will be making these again for sure.
     
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Tweaks

  1. This was absolutely amazing. I really don't know what else to say! I can't think of anything I would have done differently. I did substitute some of the butter for olive oil but definitely could not tell the difference. Since I didn't have any cream or creme frais, I used some Carnation Evaporated milk and still got a nice, creamy sauce. This is a perfect mussel recipe and one which will be on my favourite list from now on.
     

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<p><strong><span>The sunflowers in the field behind my house in SW France:</span></strong></p> <p><img title=Sunflowers src=http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r271/copperhorse58/DSCN8221.jpg alt=Sunflowers width=640 height=480 /><br /><strong><span><br /><br />I am British (English-Scottish), but I was born in South Africa and have lived all over the world, including Hong Kong, Germany, Cyprus, USA &amp; Singapore. I have also been very fortunate to have travelled extensively over the years.........I still have wanderlust! <br /><br />I used to be an English Literature &amp; Art History teacher &amp; lecturer; before that, I trained and worked as a Graphic Designer for many years. I now live in France with my husband &amp; my daughter who has just started university in September 2006. We also have one very chatty Burmese cat Willow, who allows us to live with her here! (I used to have three cats, I recently lost Monty, a beautiful seal point Siamese and before that, Rama, who was a debonair blue point Siamese cat - I would love to have another Siamese cat or cats in the future!)</span></strong></p> <p><em><strong><span>This is my Burmese Cat, Willow, sunning herself on the log pile in the kitchen garden:</span></strong></em></p> <p><strong><img title=My src=http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r271/copperhorse58/ABaconButtyandSundryFoodPhotos34.jpg alt=My width=640 height=480 /></strong></p> <p><strong><span>Here is my lovely Monty, a seal point Siamese, and Willow, sitting&nbsp;in the kitchen garden last year, and a few months before Monty died; he was 18yrs old:</span></strong></p> <p><img title=Monty src=http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r271/copperhorse58/AbsolutelySinfulStickyToffeePudding.jpg alt=Monty width=640 height=480 />My</p> <p><strong><span>This is my wonderful old boy, Rama, a blue-point Siamese, who died when he was 20yrs old - excuse the old and much sellotaped photo:</span></strong></p> <p><img title=Rama src=http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r271/copperhorse58/Rama1stOctober2004164.jpg alt=Rama width=517 height=639 /></p> <p><strong><span>My favourite pastimes are: reading, writing, painting &amp; drawing, photography, gardening, anything creative, walking, travelling, dining out and of course COOKING! I love all types of cuisine, but especially Traditional British - and NO it is NOT all bad!! I particularly love food associated with the changing seasons plus traditional feasts &amp; festivals, as well as Slow Cooking. I also enjoy French &amp; North African cuisine, come to think of it, there isn't much I don't like! <br /><br />My husband &amp; I run a Chambres D'Hotes, (Bed and Breakfast) called Auberge de la Fontaine here in beautiful South West France; we specialise in Gourmet Food &amp; Wine Breaks, French Antiques &amp; Restoration courses, French Language courses and French Cookery classes. Our home is completely furnished with Antique French furniture that we have rescued &amp; restored ourselves. Our charming village has one of the oldest Churches in the region &amp; it is famous for its connection with the St.Jacques de Compostella Pilgrimage route, as well as being within the Cognac &amp; Bordeaux wine growing area. <br /><br />We have a wonderful garden where we grow ALL of our own herbs and most of our fruit and vegetables. I specialise in rare, unusual and old-fashioned herbs, which I grow in our walled garden. As well as growing herbs, I also grow many different varieties of lavender, old-fashioned shrub roses and heirloom fruit and vegetables. <br /><br />We have lived overseas for many, many years now - but we both still love going home to Northern England, near Scarborough &amp; York, to visit our family &amp; friends. 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