Mussels Dijonnaise

When my husband and I were in NYC two years ago, we ate at a restaurant called Rue 57. We ordered the Mussels Dijonnaise and practically fought each other for the last mussel, they were that good. When we got home we scoured the net for a recipe that would come close. We ended up mixing a couple together. Now, sometimes on a Friday night, instead of ordering a pizza we make a mess of mussels, cut up a French baquette and reminisce about New York City.

Mussels Dijonnaise

2 tbsps butter
1/4 cup finely chopped onions
2 tbsps finely chopped shallots
1 tsp finely chopped garlic
1/4 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 tbsps dijon mustard
2 tbsps finely chopped flat leaf parsley

3 pounds of mussels, cleaned and scrubbed
1 tbsp sea salt

Heat the butter in a large saucepan until melted. Add the onions, shallots and garlic and cook briefly, until soft. Do not brown. Add salt, pepper, white wine and cream. Whisk to combine. Heat over medium high heat, whisking occasionally, until thickened. Once thickened, whisk in dijon mustard. Do not boil.

Mussels: In a large pot, bring 1 cup of water and sea salt to a boil and add mussels. Cover pot. When steam begins to force itself out from under lid, turn heat to medium and steam for 5 minutes, give pot a vigourous shake to redistribute mussels and steam for another 3 minutes or until majority of mussels are opened. (Do not eat mussels that didn’t open). Drain almost all of liquid in pot. Toss sauce with mussels and transfer to large bowl. Sprinkle with parsley. Serve with crusty bread.

Pleasantville note: There are recipes that tell you to steam the mussels with the sauce. It is our experience that the sauce then gets too diluted. Through trial and error we have found this way works the best.