Moules-frites (mussels and chips)

Name: Moules-frites (mussels and chips)
Cook time: 72 min
Total time: 72 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Belga
Ingredients: 50 g Butter; 2 kg Mussels; 1 clove Garlic; 2 u Celery; 1.2 kg Potato; Salt; Black pepper; 2 l Sunflower Oil; 1 handful Parsley; 3 u Shallots; 150 g Mayonnaise; 250 ml Dry White Wine

Mejillones con patatas fritas

Medium

Contains allergens

LecheMoluscosApio

Incomplete allergen information: some ingredients have not been reviewed yet. Always check the labels before cooking.

Author: Equipo Cocinoa
Preparation time: 72 min
Servings: 4

Summary

Belgium's moules-frites: mussels steamed open with white wine, shallot, celery and butter, served in their pot with twice-fried chips, crisp outside and fluffy inside. With mayonnaise on the side, as in Brussels.

Ingredients

4 servings

Add to Bring!

50 g Butter
2 kg Mussels (live, shells tightly closed)
1 clove Garlic (chopped) (optional)
2 u Celery (sticks, finely chopped, with a few leaves)
1.2 kg Potato (floury, such as Bintje or Maris Piper)
Salt (to taste)
Black pepper (freshly ground)
2 l Sunflower Oil (for deep-frying)
1 handful Parsley (chopped)
3 u Shallots (finely chopped)
150 g Mayonnaise (to serve)
250 ml Dry White Wine (or Belgian blonde beer)

Instructions

Clean the mussels under cold running water: pull off the beards, tugging towards the hinge, and scrape off any barnacles with a knife. Discard any with broken shells and any open ones that do not close when tapped on the worktop. Keep them in the fridge in a colander, covered with a damp cloth, until you cook them.
15 min
Peel the potatoes and cut them into chips about 1 cm thick. Rinse them in cold water to remove the surface starch and dry them very well with a clean tea towel.
15 min
First fry: heat the oil to 160 °C in a deep-fat fryer or deep pan and fry the chips in batches until tender but still pale. Drain them on a rack and leave to cool for at least 15 minutes.
30 min
Heat the oil to 180 °C for the second fry. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a large lidded pot over medium heat and soften the shallot, celery and garlic, if using, without letting them brown.
5 min
Turn the heat up high, add the mussels, wine and a good grinding of pepper and put the lid on. Cook, shaking the pot now and then while holding the lid, just until the mussels open. Don't add salt: the mussels release their own seawater.
5 min
While the mussels cook, fry the chips a second time, in batches, until golden and crisp. Drain them and salt them as soon as they come out of the oil.
Discard any mussels that have stayed closed. Scatter over the parsley, stir it into the broth and serve the mussels in deep bowls with their juices, the chips on top or on a separate plate and the mayonnaise on the side.
2 min

Notes

This is Belgium's national dish and it is eaten from an individual pot: you pick the mussels out using an empty shell as tweezers and dip the chips in the broth. For the beer version, swap the wine for a Belgian blonde or white beer (bear in mind the dish is then no longer gluten-free). In Belgium the chips are fried in beef dripping, which gives them an unmistakable flavour, and they are cut thick, about a centimetre. Food safety: mussels must be alive when you cook them. Throw away any with cracked shells and any open ones that don't close when tapped; after cooking, discard any that stay shut. Buy them on the day or the day before, keep them in the fridge covered with a damp cloth (never submerged in fresh water) and eat the dish freshly made: leftover mussels, out of their shells, only keep for a day in the fridge.