Classic Moules in White Wine Sauce

I was inspired to make moules (i.e. mussels) at home after seeing a Geoffrey Zakarian recipe on The Kitchen. Mussels always seem like an impressive dish at restaurants and it's amazing that they are so easy, fast, and cheap to make at home. A 2 lb. bag of mussels is $7 or less, depending on where you live.

While the recipe is for moules frites, it doesn't include steps for making fries and just says to serve with fries. So, I've just made the mussels, sans frites, and serve with crusty bread instead. This sauce is SO tasty that you'll want to mop it all up with bread anyway.

This dish cooks ridiculously fast. The prep time takes longer than it does to cook it. On the show, they mention letting the mussels sit in a bowl of cold water twice before cooking, but this is not included in the prep time of the recipe on the site. I let them sit in cold water for about 30 minutes to let them release any sand. But, I don't repeat because I don't have the patience.

Check the mussels for any that are cracked or open and won't close after giving them a tap. These mussels are dead and should be discarded. Remove any fuzzy beards from the live mussels.

It's best to have all the prep done and ingredients measured out first. Once you start cooking, it's very quick so having everything ready to go makes life much easier.

Here's how things looked once I got cooking:

Softening shallots & garlic

Added white wine, salt, & pepper

Add cleaned mussels & cover

After 3 minutes

If there are any mussels that didn't open during cooking, throw those out as well because those aren't good either. Luckily, they all opened this time!

If I don't have creme fraîche, I've substituted with some heavy cream in the sauce. Here, I used creme fraîche.

I really like how the whole grain mustard adds just a bit of tang to the sauce and another depth of flavor.

As a main dish, this is really 2 servings. As an appetizer, it could work for 4. And don't forget the crusty bread!

My Rating (out of 5): 5