Mussels à la Marinière

Preparation In order to use the same casserole used for cooking the mussels, decant the liquor that they have released, carefully pouring it into another container to eliminate the sand. Rinse the casserole. Add the white wine and shallot. Reduce it vigorously until about 3 tablespoons are left. Then add 3 deciliters (1 1/4 cups), carefully measured, of cooking water from the mussels. Make sure that it is not too salty, or you will have to add some water, thereby diluting the cooking liquid. Boil it for only a few seconds without reducing it. Turn off the heat. Next, add to the sauce, always off the fire, the pepper, if this has not already been included as peppercorns; and the butter, divided into very small pieces the size of very small hazelnuts. Sprinkle over the bread crumbs, mixing well and shaking the casserole to melt the butter; and then some minced parsley; and some lemon juice, if using. Put the mussels back into the casserole. Shake them in the sauce for a few seconds only without putting them directly over the heat. The point is to heat the mussels thoroughly and to cover them completely with sauce, but not to allow this to boil or even overheat, because the butter just added would lose its creaminess and turn to oil. Then pour everything in a pile, pell-mell, into a warm timbale or a warm plate. A note from Gourmet's food editors:The cookbook provides a lengthy explanation of cooking mussels. We cooked the mussels with 1 sliced medium onion, 5 thyme sprigs, 1/3 Turkish bay leaf, a pinch of white pepper, and 1 cup water, covered, over high heat until mussels just opened wide, 6 to 8 minutes, discarding mussels that didn't open after 8 minutes.

Preparation In order to use the same casserole used for cooking the mussels, decant the liquor that they have released, carefully pouring it into another container to eliminate the sand. Rinse the casserole. Add the white wine and shallot. Reduce it vigorously until about 3 tablespoons are left. Then add 3 deciliters (1 1/4 cups), carefully measured, of cooking water from the mussels. Make sure that it is not too salty, or you will have to add some water, thereby diluting the cooking liquid. Boil it for only a few seconds without reducing it. Turn off the heat. Next, add to the sauce, always off the fire, the pepper, if this has not already been included as peppercorns; and the butter, divided into very small pieces the size of very small hazelnuts. Sprinkle over the bread crumbs, mixing well and shaking the casserole to melt the butter; and then some minced parsley; and some lemon juice, if using. Put the mussels back into the casserole. Shake them in the sauce for a few seconds only without putting them directly over the heat. The point is to heat the mussels thoroughly and to cover them completely with sauce, but not to allow this to boil or even overheat, because the butter just added would lose its creaminess and turn to oil. Then pour everything in a pile, pell-mell, into a warm timbale or a warm plate. A note from Gourmet's food editors:The cookbook provides a lengthy explanation of cooking mussels. We cooked the mussels with 1 sliced medium onion, 5 thyme sprigs, 1/3 Turkish bay leaf, a pinch of white pepper, and 1 cup water, covered, over high heat until mussels just opened wide, 6 to 8 minutes, discarding mussels that didn't open after 8 minutes.