This recipe consists of my favourite ingredient of all-time: small, fresh mussels! Make sure you have lots of a chopped freshly-baked French baguette for mopping up the sauce. This dish works on a hot summer day or even a cold autumn’s day as an appetizer or snack. Friends have told me that they first had a Mouclade in La Rochelle, France a port on the Atlantic coast north of Bordeaux. I have told by my French friends that it was brought there in the 15th or 16th century with traders from Asia Minor; hence the odd similarity of this dish to curry! This dish will serve six as a starter, or 3-4 as a main course.
Ingredients:
2 kg moules de bouchot
0.25 l dry white wine (or dry cider or grape juice)
250 g crème fraîche
2 egg yolks
1 bay leaf
1 dessertspoon butter
1 finely chopped onion
1 clove crushed garlic
1 dessertspoon flour
1 teaspoon curry powder
juice of half a lemon
parsley
pepper
Method:
Bring the wine and bay leaves to the boil in a wide pan, and add the cleaned mussels. Please note that you could possibly use grape juice. I use grape juice as I don’t drink alcohol, however it must be emphasized that the alcohol content will be negligible if the dish reaches above 78°. Cover and shake the pan occasionally over a high heat, just until the mussels open. Strain the liquor into a bowl, keeping the mussels warm. Sample the dish – if it is too salty dilute with water or wine.
In the meantime, soften the onion and garlic in the butter. Add the flour and cook for a couple of minutes. Pour in about 0.3 l of the cooking liquor – enough to make a thin sauce – and simmer it briefly, until the flour is cooked out.
In a separate bowl, mix the egg yolks and cream, then pour on the hot sauce slowly, mixing all the time. Add the curry powder, pepper and lemon juice to taste – do not add any salt. Return to the pan and heat slowly. In theory the sauce shouldn’t curdle even if it boils. Once hot, pour over the mussels and decorate with chopped parsley.
Many thanks to Professor John Locke
Dr Shibley Rahman is a research physician and research lawyer by training.
Queen’s Scholar, BA (1st.), MA, MB, BChir, PhD, MRCP(UK), LLB(Hons.), FRSA
Director of Law and Medicine Limited
Member of the Fabian Society and Associate of the Institute of Directors
