We can’t help keeping our eyes peeled for fodder wherever we go! This Sunday supper sees us celebrating a family forage with a Moules Mariniere feast fit for Neptune himself!

Foraging Fun

On a typical ‘5 go adventuring again’ day out from Enid Blyton’s tales, we stumbled upon a shoreline of mussels ready for the picking. With the small humans eyes low to the ground they quickly gathered up enough to fill our bucket and off we set home to get to work.

So raid your larder for those everyday essentials to boil up a little something delicious. Trust us, it’ll be a Sunday supper highlight!

When foraging for mussels by sure to avoid harvesting them during their breeding season between May and August. Additionally, be aware of the size guide (Minimum of above 50mm). Only take home mussels that are closed and not damaged.

Do your research:

• check up on the water quality of the beach you are foraging from
• unless you want to don a snorkel be sure to go at low tide,
• study the tides so you know when it’s the right time- an almanac is a worthy foragers companion.

Once you’ve collected your bounty it’s time to get them ready for supper! Mussels that have been taken from the seabed rather than rope grown like shop bought ones will have grit inside them. Before prepping,  soak them in salted water for 30 minutes. This allows them to breathe and filter, pushing out any grit or sand inside their shells. Secondly, remove the barnacles with a scourer or brush and pull off the beard that sticks out from the shell. Lastly,  run them under clean water and tap any that are partly open, if they do not shut then discard them.

Moules Mariniere Recipe

Time : under 5 minutes

Makes : 2 portions

Ingredients:

• 15g Butter
• 2 shallots
• 2 Garlic bulbs
• 1 small glass of white wine (around 100ml)
• 30 mussels (approximately 1.5/2 kg)
• 1 bay leaf
• 120ml single cream
• Parsley to garnish

How to:

Firstly, chop your shallots (or onions) and garlic finely, sweat onions in the pan and add the garlic after a few minutes on a low heat.

Add the mussels and wine turn up the heat and cover and steam for 3-4 minutes, giving the pan a good shake every now and then

Add the cream and remove from the heat, serve with crusty bread to mop up the sauce (the best bit!)

Et voila…moules mariniere straight from the ocean to your plate!

Why not find out more about Coastal Foraging on one of our sessions right here in sunny Dorset?