Recipes / Fish
Braaied mussels with garlic, white wine and cream
Fresh mussels steamed open in a heavy pan or potjie lid over hot coals with garlic, white wine and cream, then finished with chives and eaten with bread.
- Prep
- 20 min
- On the fire
- 15 min
- Serves
- 4 as a starter, 2 as a main
- Done at
- 145°F (63°C)
Ingredients
To serve
Method
Cooking on gas?
- Set the pan over a burner on high, or on your grill's side burner. Everything else works exactly as in the recipe.
- Cover the pan with its lid or foil to steam the mussels. Closing the grill lid over a pan of wine and cream is not needed.
- Rinse the mussels in a bowl of cold water and scrub off any grit. Pull out the hairy beard with a sharp tug towards the hinge.
- Tap any open mussel on the counter. Throw it away if it does not close within a minute, and throw away any with cracked shells.
- Set a large heavy pan or an upturned potjie lid on the grid over hot coals. Add the oil and butter and let the butter foam.
- Cook the onion for 3 minutes until soft, then add the garlic and stir for 1 minute without letting it brown.
- Pour in the wine and let it bubble for 2 minutes. Add the cream and pepper and simmer for 4 to 5 minutes until it thickens a little.
- Tip in the mussels, stir once and cover with a lid or a sheet of foil. Steam for 4 to 6 minutes, shaking the pan now and then.
- Lift the cover. When most shells are open, pull the pan to the edge of the fire and stir in the chives.
- Taste the sauce and add salt only if it needs it, since mussels are salty. Serve in the pan with lemon and toast for the sauce.
Done when: the shells have opened wide and the meat inside is plump, orange or cream and opaque; throw away any mussels that stay shut. A thermometer in the thickest mussel should read 63°C (145°F), the safe level for fish and shellfish.
Tips
- Buy mussels on the day you cook them and keep them in the fridge in an open bowl under a damp cloth. They die in a sealed bag or in fresh water.
- Frozen half-shell mussels work too. Add them still frozen in step 6 and heat for 6 to 8 minutes until hot right through.
- Keep the fire hot. Mussels that steam slowly give off water and the sauce turns thin.
Black mussels are farmed in Saldanha Bay on the West Coast and are sold all over South Africa, fresh or frozen on the half shell. Cooked in a pan on the braai, they are ready in about 15 minutes and make a good starter while the coals settle for the main meat. The cream and wine sauce is the best part, so bring plenty of bread. For a bigger seafood meal, follow them with garlic butter prawns.
Source
Adapted from Creamy garlic mussels at Woolworths.