Moules Provencales (Mussels Steamed in White Wine)

1. Keep mussels refrigerated until ready to use. When ready to cook, pick through your mussels to ensure all are tightly closed. If any are open, lightly tap the shell against a cutting board and set aside for a few minutes. If the open ones do not close up after a bit of tapping and a few minutes of resting, throw them out. Do not use them!

2. Place mussels in a colander and rinse under cold water. Remove beards and scrub off any barnacles or grit. If you can locate “cultivated”, or “rope grown” mussels, you probably won’t need to do any scrubbing. Wild mussels will likely need a bit of gentle scrubbing.

3. While mussels are resting in the colander, heat olive oil in a sauté pan (with a lid) over medium heat. Add onions and sweat for a minute or two, then add garlic. Stir until onions turn translucent.

4. Pour in wine and lemon juice and bring to a simmer. Turn heat up to high and pour in the mussels. Immediately put the lid on the pan and gently shake the pan a bit. Watch the clock. Two to three minutes is all you need. The mussels are ready just as you start to see steam escape from the pan.

5. Using a slotted spoon or tongs, remove mussels from the pan and place into a covered serving dish. Gently sort through mussels and discard any that did not open (they only need to open 1 cm, minimum).

6. Strain cooking juices into a bowl. Take the strained liquid and pour back into the sauté pan. Discard the onion/garlic mixture. If a few onions sneak into the juices, that’s okay. If you like, you can add a few spoonfuls of onions and garlic back to the pan.

7. Turn the heat to medium and simmer the wine for a minute. Add the butter and tomatoes and bring to a boil. Let reduce for about 5 minutes. Add parsley, sea salt and cracked pepper and stir together.

8. Pour liquid over the mussels. Serve with crusty bread for dipping into the juice!