Mussels recipes

Mussels collectors at work

Right outside of our villa we can always find the locals selling fresh fish mussels and oysters, you can guarantee that the fish has just been caught and is really really fresh, the mussels and oysters have just been gathered within the hour. I was originally trained as a chef, so I always take an interest in fresh local produce and do occasionally still love to cook. When I saw the mussels being sold at the side of the road they looked amazing. They were absolutely huge and you could see they were fresh they still had the seaweed in the barnacles on them.

Mussels are normally cheap and plentiful in Morocco and the first photograph you can see the kids collecting them from the beach ready to be sold, mussels prefer cooler coastal waters so the Atlantic coast is ideal for them, there are lots of muscle recipes around but I think the simple ones are the best. Some points to look at when using mussels for muscle recipes

• make sure they are fresh
• if you pick them yourself make sure the water is not polluted
• normally mussels are best in the cooler months when they are not breeding
• check each muscle one by one make sure the shells are closed and not cracked
• always use the mussels on the same day that you get them

Mussels recipes preparation

Mussel Recipes

If you’re going to serve the mussels in their shells which we are in this dish make sure they are cleaned very well, scrape off all the seaweed and barnacles, it’s best to wash them at least three times to remove all the sand, there’s nothing worse than tucking into your mussels and getting a mouthful of gritty sand. Once you have cleaned and scraped all the mussels put them into bowel or a sink full of fresh clean cold water, discard any that stay open when you tap them. The thing with mussels is you don’t need to cook them for a long time the more you cook them the tougher they become if you cook them for long enough it’s going to be like eating elastic.

Muscle recipes

Grab yourself a heavy duty pan and were going to steam them, chop a bit of garlic, a couple of shallots, a bit of salt-and-pepper and whatever fresh herbs that you like, throw in a glass of white wine and a dash of olive oil to give the mussels a lovely shine. Put all your ingredients except the mussels into your pan and bring to the boil, once it’s simmering away put in your mussels and cover the pan with the lid, keep the pan simmering and it will only take a few minutes till the mussels are steamed once they open up they are ready. Make sure you don’t overcook them.

muscles recipes

Now they’re ready to be served, grab yourself some nice crusty bread because the juice from the mussels is ideal for soaking up with a bread. Put your mussels into bowels and decorate with some nice green salad and green fresh herbs. Now it’s ready to eat go and enjoy your mussels recipes.