Moules Frites

Profile#

This is a great combo from the south of France. During the vacation we always enjoy it and even in Paris you will find a restaurant serving it. Of course you will not find the best in Paris, but in the Leon de Bruxelles (a Belgian Restaurant) the Moules Frites are great:

In the old part of Nice at the Mediterranean sea you will them in lots of places in a fantastic quality. Unfortunately I can’t punish any exact position, but it was roughly a bit north of the Église Sainte-Rita de Nice:

The Italian mussels are best. However, you have to take some time to clean them up, especially those from Antonio. Sometimes you can also buy mussels in Gröbenzell supermarkets (like the ones I’m use here). You can find Antonio here.

The fish sauce in this recipe is optional, whoever has it gets the final kick to the sauce. If you like to cook Asian you may have it already at home. Otherwise, the one in the photo further down is from the Asia shop in Olching and it’s the best I know. You can find the shop here:

Ingredients#

• 1,5Kg mussels for 2 persons. If you can get only 2Kg you can keep the unused rest in a mix of olive oil and lemon and enjoy them the next day.
• 2 Onions
• Parsley
• Garlic
• Chilli
• 1/2 bottle of white wine
• 1 can of Tomato
• 2 spoon fish sauce
• Salt, pepper, herb mixture ‘Herbes de Provence’ (Rosemary, Thym and Savory)
• 1 spoon of of a Arrabiata mix (garlic, chilli, parsley, all dried), as used here: Spaghetti Bolognese)
• Olive oil
• French fries from the oven

Let’s go#

Clean the mussels thoroughly with plenty of cold water. Remove the beards and change the water several times. Discard open and broken mussels. Wash the parsley.

The ingredients. Those of you who like the sauce pretty much can use two cans of tomatoes. You can eat it as a soup together with some bread.

This is the fish sauce from the Asia supermarket in Ouching. It was a recommendation of the friendly owner.

Cut the onions into strips. Garlic and chili in slices.

Fry the onions in olive oil. You can make it hotter as usual as they should get some colour.

Add Chili and the Arrabiata mix after 2-3 minutes and fry for 2 minutes.

1Add 1/2 bottle of white wine and wait a short time to get rid of the steam.

This is the Provence herbal mix. It’s made of Rosemary, Thym and Savory. This one includes some peppers as well.

Add the tomatoes, fish sauce and the herbs. Here I am using 2 cans of tomatoes. Let it cook slowly for 45 minutes. Don’t worry if the liquid becomes less. We will add the drippy wet mussels afterwards.

Chop the parsley roughly. We will add it once everything is ready.

The mussels need little more than 10 minutes. So put the fries in time into the oven and the mussels accordingly drippy to the sauce and mix well. The temperature should be increased before, otherwise it will cease to cook quickly. Put the lid on it and stir it in between again and again so that all mussels open.

When the mussels are finished, mix the parsley. You may enjoy the french fries with an aioli (mayonnaise with garlic) like on this photo.