ORIGINAL BELGIAN MUSSELS
Author: Camila Santamaria
Mussles are a traditional Belgian dish. If have ever been a tourist in Belgium you will realize in tourist places like Brussels or Brugge restaurant menus are full with mussels. They are quite overpriced because locals know tourists go crazy for this amazing dish.
Even though seafood is not a strong part of Belgian cuisine, mussels can easily be found along the Flemish coast. Serve with fries, one of Belgian national food, mussels have become my favorite Belgian food so far. Being from a country that has a huge variety of seafood (Chile) I’ve always loved mussels, specially for hangover (I truly think seafood is the best cure!).
I had them in a couple of restaurants in the past months until I saw mussels one day at the supermarket and I thought why not trying to cook them myself? Shouldn’t be that hard!
And it wasn’t. They are very easy to make and it only takes 15 minutes. First I tried cooking 1 kg of mussels and was a total success. So the second time I tried 4 kgs and they still were very tasty!
There are 2 main ways of cooking: Natuur (with water) or with white wine. The recipe I tried was with white wine. It gives the mussels a better taste. Want to give it a try.
Ingredients
– 1 kg. fresh mussels
– 1 small onion
– 1 celery stick
– 200 ml of white wine
– 2 tablespoons of butter
– 1 tablespoon of chopped parsley
– salt and pepper
Step by Step
– First melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a pot and sauté onions and celery for a few minutes. You can add some chopped carrots (optional). Add salt, pepper and the wine. Let it boil.
– Wash the mussels properly and scrub the shells to take all the dirt out. Add the mussels to the pot and cook them covered until the mussels open. Shake the pot every now and then to accommodate the mussels.
– When the mussels are open add the second tablespoon of butter and the parsley. Serve from the pot with fries at the side. Very Belgian and very tasty!