Moules Frites Au Beurre Vert – Herb Butter Mussels And Fries

Every now and again, I crave a huge bowl of slurpy mussels. They must have a good bit of sauce and there must be plenty of fries (not chips) to soak up the juices. Crusty bread will do at a push but it wouldn’t have the same satisfaction ratio for me. 

If you’re anything like me, you buy a lot of fresh herbs but don’t always know what to do with it, so this herby butter is a great way to preserve them as you can keep it in the freezer. 

Ingredients (for 2)

• 1 kg of local mussels (this cost me €4.56 at my local fishmonger)
• 200 g or so of butter
• All the herbs you can get but think at least 3 large handfuls. For this, I used parsley, wild garlic and dill but you can play with different combinations. 
• A teaspoon of gentle chili flakes (i used korean ones)
• the grated zest of one unwaxed lemon
• one medium glass of white wine

Method 

• Give the mussels a bath in cold salty water so they open and you can pull the beards easily (the beards are seaweed). Rinse them and they’re ready to cook. 
• While the mussels are chillaxing, make your herb butter. In a food blender, mix your butter, herbs, chili flaxes and zest until lovely and nearly smooth. If you don’t have wild garlic, throw in a couple of garlic bulbs. Also if you’re butter is cold and your blender struggles (a bit like mine so), throw in a little bit of olive oil to get it all going. 
• In a large pot, heat a bit of oil and add 2 heaped tables spoons of the herb butter (no need to be shy) and add the mussels. Mix it all nicely and throw a glass of white wine on top. 
• Cover with the lid and cook on medium heat for no more than 10 min. 
• Usual safety advice applies: discard any closed mussels. 
• Mix in a large bowl with your choice of fries (we had little roundy ones from the air fryer) and devour.