Mussels in cider
The mussel season has started a little earlier this year. Here in the Netherlands they are often referred to as black gold. The bulk of mussels come from Zeeland in the south of the Netherlands. They are slightly smaller than the Atlantic mussels that I grew up with in the west of Ireland, but are pretty tasty too. If you have a good product there's no point in going overboard with flavours. Traditional moules mariniere is cooked with white wine, I like to go with cider which is more Breton or Norman in style, you can use English cider too if you like .
200ml dry cider
2 shallots finely chopped
1 clove garlic finely chopped
50g unsalted butter
1 sprig fresh tarragon or 2g dried
50g creme fraiche
1kg mussels
Clean the mussels and remove any detritus, if the mussels are open, tap and see if they will close, if they remain open discard, similarly discard any that are broken or cracked
In a large pan, fry the shallots and garlic on a low heat in the butter until soft and glossy
Once cooked, add the cider and bring to the boil for one minute to cook out the alcohol
Lower the heat to medium, add the tarragon and the mussels, place a lid on and cook until the mussels have opened (roughly 7-10 minutes)
Remove the mussels to one side, discarding any that may not have opened and place somewhere to keep warm
Strain the cooking juices into a bowl to get rid of any silt that may have come from the mussels and pour the strained juices back into the pan
Reduce the cooking juices by half, lower the heat and stir through the creme fraiche
Take off the heat, add the mussels and place the pan in the middle of your table and let people help themselves
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