Over 2000 miles of coastline means mussels are aplenty everywhere in Ireland and mussel farming was actually invented by an Irishman, the bouchot method which is commonly used in France.
Mussels are extremely easy to cook, the time and effort is in preparing the mussels before cooking.
They can be a starter or a main depending on the amount of mussels you use and appetite.
Before cooking:
Throw away any mussels with damaged shells or open ones. If they do not close after being tapped they are dead and can't be used.
Clean the mussels by putting under running cold water and and scrub the shells with a hard brush. Leave them to soak for half an hour to remove any remaining sand and run again under water.
Use a knife to remove any beards/fibre attached to them.
What you need:
1 kg of mussels
2 garlic cloves
2 shallots finely chopped
40 grams Irish butter
120ml double cream
Salt and pepper
Parsley to garnish
Soda bread to serve
What you do:
- In a large pot on a low heat add the garlic and shallots with the butter. Soften for 5 mins.
- Add the mussels, turn up the heat and cover. The mussels will cook in the steam from their own juices. Shake the pan every now and then. The mussels should cook in about 5 mins or less. They will be open.
- Remove from heat and season to taste, add cream and parsley and shake or stir.
- Garnish with some fresh parsley and serve with soda bread.
The step of cleaning the mussels is the longest. There is a quicker way I use now and it makes it super quick and even easier without compromising on flavour or quality.
Every supermarket has mussels already prepared in bags which you just boil for few minutes. Some are even flavoured already so there is very little work involved and make nearly as quick as cereal.
One that I get a lot is the garlic butter mussels and after boiling in bag for 5 mins, I return to the dry pot and add the parsley and cream and stir. Ready to serve.
