Moules Basquaise
- Published: 22 Sep 18
- Updated: 18 Mar 24
“These moules, from where the wild Atlantic meets the Pyrenees, have a distinctly southern flavour. The local chilli powder, piment d’espelette, is easily found at souschef.co.uk but hot, unsmoked paprika makes a good substitute.” – Felicity Cloake.
Or opt for mussels with cider, tarragon and crème fraîche for desirable creamy flavours.
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Serves 4
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Hands-on time 20 min, simmering time 10 min
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 2 large pointed red peppers, sliced
- 2 garlic cloves, sliced
- 8 cherry tomatoes
- 75g cured ham (see tips), chopped into small chunks
- 500ml dry white wine
- 1.5kg mussels, cleaned and de-bearded (see tips)
- 1 small bunch fresh flatleaf parsley, roughly chopped
- A good pinch piment d’espelette
- Baguette to serve
Method
- Heat the oil in a very large lidded saucepan or casserole over a medium heat. Add the onion and peppers, cook until beginning to soften, then add the garlic, tomatoes and ham.
- Cook until the tomatoes begin to burst and the ham has released its fat, then pour in the wine. Turn up the heat and bring to a simmer.
- Add the mussels, cover with the lid and cook for 10 minutes until the mussels have opened (see tips), then toss well to distribute the sauce.
- Sprinkle with the parsley and piment d’espelette and serve with the baguette to mop up the sauce.
- Recipe from July 2018 Issue
Nutrition
- Calories
- 230kcals
- Fat
- 10.5g (2g saturated)
- Protein
- 25.3g
- Carbohydrates
- 7g (6.1g sugars)
- Fibre
- 3.2g
- Salt
- 1.7g
delicious. tips
Discard any uncooked mussels that don’t close when tapped on the work surface.
We used thick-sliced Bayonne ham, from the supermarket deli section.
The moules cry out for a chilled young rosé from Bordeaux.
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Great meal and so easy. Plenty of flavour but I did add an extra bit more of piment d’espellette as it isn’t strong compared to smoked paprika which could be used in replace of if you can’t find it in the shops (We live in France).
I wouldn’t use 500 ml of white wine as it wasn’t all eaten as too much for us. We scored the meal 8.5/10 and I served them with chips (normal for France)