Mouclade is a classic french dish from the west coast port town of La Rochelle in the region of Poitou Charentes; made from many ingredients that have always been found within throwing distance of the trading port.
Classically it's served in the style a huge bowl of mussels in the shell with a rustic sauce, I have changed it a little bit so you don't have to fiddle about with your hands pulling muscles apart, which keeps the dish very clean.
1kg mussels in the shell
300ml Pineau des Charentes wine
6 shallots
1/2 tsp coriander seeds
1 sprig of thyme
100g butter
2 clove of garlic
1 tbl curry powder
1g saffron
100ml milk
1000ml cream
5g chive
5g dill
Heat up a heavy bottom pan until it is smoking hot, throw in your mussels and wine and place a lid on top for 1 minute, this will steam the mussels open. Once ready strain into a sieve and keep the liquid. Pick the mussel meat and discard the shells.
For the sauce you need to sweat down the shallot, garlic & thyme in the butter for 2 minutes, in the same heavy bottom pan, add your coriander seed, curry & saffron and cook out for another 2 minutes. Add the liquid you collected from steaming the mussels and reduce by half, this will give you a nice fresh shellfish stock from the mussels & sweet wine. Add the cream, bring to the boil and let simmer for 5 minutes.
Once ready, blend with a hand blender and pass through a fine sieve to make sure you have no little bits in your sauce.
To assemble the dish, place your mussel meat into the sauce and heat up, do not boil tho as the mussels will become chewy. Once warm place into the centre of the bowl. Add a little milk to the sauce and foam with hand blender and pour sauce into the bowl. Garnish with a little chopped chive & some fresh dill. Classically its garnished with chopped parsley but I prefer our way.
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Its a simple dish made elegantly that can be done in no time at all.
@TheChefsLarder
