Classic Mussels Recipe

For this dish, we recommend using a good-quality olive oil, freshly ground black pepper, fine sea salt and fleur de sel (coarse sea salt). Always use dry wine when cooking mussels and grate your cheeses at the last minute while cooking or when plating.

I like to use the leaves of tender herbs, but if you can’t find these, use what is available. Along with most other fresh herbs, bronze fennel and sorrel are also available as plants from garden centers.

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Serves 2

Ingredients

• 2 ½ pound mussels
• 1 onion
• 2 celery stalks
• 4 stems leaf celery*
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 6 sprigs of thyme, leaves only
• 2–3 tablespoons freshly ground black pepper
• 1 cup white wine
• ⅓ cup salted butter, cut into cubes

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Directions

Special equipment: Mussel pan

Fill the sink, large mussel pot, or other large pan with plenty of water and rinse the mussels. Drain, then refill with fresh water and rinse the mussels two more times. Discard any shells that float to the surface because they might be spoiled. Also discard any shells that are cracked or broken. Roughly dice the vegetables—not too chunky and not too fine is best, as they should still have some bite after they’re cooked.

Add the vegetables, garlic and thyme into a mussel pot over high heat. Place the mussels on top of the vegetables. Season them with a generous amount of black pepper and pour in the white wine. Cover the pot.

After a few minutes, check to see whether the liquid has foamed over the mussels, then give the pot a good shake. Make sure that the vegetables and the mussels that were on the bottom are now on top. Put the lid back on the pot and return to a boil — the liquid will foam over the mussels again.

Remove the lid and place the cubes of butter between the mussels, and allow the butter to melt and combine with the luscious liquid at the bottom of the pot.

You can now serve the mussels just as they are (if you’d like to use them in a different recipe, drain them through a sieve placed over a bowl). Remove the top half of the shells and place the mussels in the bowl with the strained cooking liquid to keep them from drying out.

*Leaf celery (also known as Chinese celery or cutting celery) can be difficult to find in some grocery stores. Substitute the leaves of celery stalks if it’s unavailable.