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Serves/Makes: About 3 pounds mussels for each person

Ingredients:

• Allow 3 pounds (1 1/2 kg) mussels for each person and at least 1/2 pound (1/4 kg) potatoes for each person’s chips
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1/2 glass white wine or vinegar
• 1 tablespoon salt
• Pepper
• Celery, chopped

Parsley Sauce:
• 3 ounces (100 g) butter
• 3 ounces (100 g) flour
• 10 tablespoons (or more) parsley, finely chopped
• 1 smallish onion
• 4 little gherkins, finely chopped

How to cook Mussels and Chips:

• Put the first batch of mussels to open in a large cooking pot with half an onion, chopped, half a glass of white wine or vinegar, a tablespoonful of salt and a sprinkling of pepper.
• While this is on the flame, fry separately in a pan the other half of the onion, also chopped, and an equivalent amount of chopped celery.
• Once the mussels have all opened, remove them to another pot, in which they can be brought to table, pour the fried onion and celery mixture over them and keep them warm while you make the sauce.
• Strain the cooking liquid from the mussels.
• Melt butter in a pan over a low flame and stir the flour into it.
• Add and stir in enough of the mussel liquid to produce a smooth cream.
• Add parsley, onion, and gherkins.
• Cook the sauce for one more minute.
• If the chopping has been done beforehand the preparation of the sauce will take 5 minutes in all.
• The chips are deep-fried in the usual way and in ample quantity.
• Serve on the table a central pot of mussels, a platter of chips, a bowl of sauce and a plate for each diner.

Note:

The Belgian name of this recipe is Mosselen met Frietem/MouIes et Frites.

Comments:

This is one of the national dishes, possibly the national dish, of Belgium. In Brussels, it may be called simply ‘Ie complet bruxellois`. It is not complicated, but its preparation and the agreeable ritual with which the people of Ostend, in particular, consume it deserve study.

This recipe for Mussels and Chips serves/makes: About 3 pounds mussels for each person

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The Mussels and Chips Recipe adopted from the book North Atlantic Seafood.
Main Ingredient: Mussels
Preparation Method: Poached/Simmered
Cuisine: Belgian