French Cooking Class Part II

This is part 2 of a series of posts describing the French Cuisine cooking class I recently attended at Plate It Up! a gourmet kitchen tools store here in Glendale AZ and taught by Chef Patrick Karvis.

You can read Part 1 here.

After Chef Patrick had our appetites all reved up from the salad, it was time for the next course, Mussels Au Vert. Unfortunately, I was so wrapped up in slurping every last drop of the broth from this dish that I totaly forgot the camera.

This was my wife’s first encounter with mussels and I was pleasantly surprised that she liked them. Of course the high quality of preparation did not hurt. Patrick suggests Prince Edward Island mussels for this dish. The other suggestion is to use European butter. It is higher in butterfat and it a lot yummier than our American butter.

Mussels Au Vert

3 pounds mussels, cleaned and de-bearded
olive oil
3 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon minced shallots
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 cup white wine
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
1 teaspoon chopped fresh oregano
1 teaspoon chopped fresh parsley
salt & pepper

Saute the garlic and shallots in the olive oil until tender but not browned. Add the mussels and white wine. Cover and let steam for about 5 minutes. Take the mussels out and place into a serving bowl. Add the butter and herbs to the pan and season with salt and pepper. Pour this over the mussels and serve with some baguette that has been cut into inch-thick slices and lightly toasted.

Serves 4