I am after a recipe for steaming mussels in a delicious white wine and cream sauce
I had some recently at a Restaurant and the sauce was to die for - mopped up with crusty bread and was eaten until the last drop!

pure.blonde - 2019-03-24 11:38:00

Sorry I don’t have a recipe for you, but perhaps if you rang the restaurant where you enjoyed the sauce, they might, just might give you their recipe. Some do, some not keen to share.

strowan1 - 2019-03-24 12:34:00

http://www.bite.co.nz/recipe/12139/Mussels-in-a-white-wine-a
nd-cream-sauce/

lythande1 - 2019-03-24 12:53:00

lythande..thank u for the link. cant wait to try

korbo - 2019-03-24 21:14:00

lythande1 wrote:

http://www.bite.co.nz/recipe/12139/Mussels-
in-a-white-wine-and-cream-sauce/

I keep coming back to this recipe and I have reservations about it:

Ingredients
12 Mussels, green-lipped variety
1 Tbsp Butter
7 cloves Garlic, finely chopped
1 small Onion, finely diced
1 stalk Celery, finely diced
1½ cups White wine
¼ cup Cream
¼ cup Chopped parsley + add to shopping list
Directions
Prepare mussels for cooking - scrub them well in a sink to clean. Remove beards from the mussel by pulling firmly and they should come out.
On a medium heat in a large pan, melt the butter then add the garlic, onions and celery and cook until soft and translucent.
Add the wine and bring to the boil and reduce by half.
Add the mussels and the cream. Place a lid on the mussels and cook until they open. Discard any that stay shut.
Garnish with the parsley and serve.

Anyone can contradict me if they wish, but my main issue is with actually cooking the mussels in the white wine. I cook mussels, a lot. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that as they open they release an awful lot of salty water into the cooking medium. A lot of the time I find the liquid too salty for my tastes and discard. All that liquid would be going into the sauce. That aside, my other issue is that there would be far too much salty liquid overpowering the flavour of the wine.

For what it is worth, I have always steamed open my mussels first, placed into a serving bowl and then added any hot sauces I may have chose to serve them with. Naturally the sauces are made separately.

For the cream sauce I would probably use any of the following either by themselves or in combination - kaffir lime leaves, tarragon, saffron, spices or a dash of curry powder, etc, to add interest and flavour to the sauce.

buzzy110 - 2019-03-26 11:02:00

I've never heard of using cream before - coconut cream yes, but not cream.

ruby2shoes - 2019-03-26 11:24:00

Buzzy my reservation about that recipe is that the quantities seem wrong. Twelve mussels, even if large, do not end up contributing a lot of flesh, while 1 1/2 c of white wine reduced that way will be very strong. I would prefer to adopt the traditional French method whereby the mussels and vegetables are cooked in a small quantity of wine, maybe half a cupful, over high heat until they are open, then add the cream, butter and parsley and toss well just before serving. I don't think the salt from the mussels will be too much, but I do like salty food.

davidt4 - 2019-03-26 12:36:00

davidt4 wrote:

Buzzy my reservation about that recipe is that the quantities seem wrong. Twelve mussels, even if large, do not end up contributing a lot of flesh, while 1 1/2 c of white wine reduced that way will be very strong. I would prefer to adopt the traditional French method whereby the mussels and vegetables are cooked in a small quantity of wine, maybe half a cupful, over high heat until they are open, then add the cream, butter and parsley and toss well just before serving. I don't think the salt from the mussels will be too much, but I do like salty food.

I was concerned more about the sheer quantity of liquid that is released from mussels as they open. I cook freshly gathered mussels regularly. The amount of liquid will more than double, even when cooking just 1doz mussels. For my tastes that is too much liquid to be adding cream to and expect a decent sauce. I am unsure about the black mussels that are more commonly used in French cuisine but I do know about NZ green lipped mussels.

Maybe next time I will gather black mussels and see if they have the same watery effect.

buzzy110 - 2019-03-27 09:07:00