Moules mariniere

Last time we were in France with Grandma and Grandad you decided you really liked these - especially the way you can use a mussel shell as a pincer to grab the mussel bodies out of their shells. Grandma was a little surprised at how quickly her pile of mussels disappeared...

We decided to have a bistro meal for tea - a green salad with dressing, followed by the moules (with a crusty baguette), and then a silly ice cream/fruit/chocolate sauce/hundreds and thousands pudding.

You'll need:

a net of fresh mussels - about a kilogram
about half a bottle of nice white wine (ours was Italian)
a couple of good knobs of butter
a medium onion, finely chopped
a good bunch of fresh parsley, chopped

First of all, you'll need to clean the mussels, and check for any that are dead - if they're open, and their shells don't close when you tap them, chuck them out. Take the beards off the others (this really tickled you), and give them a good scrub.

Sling the onion in a large saucepan, and fry gently in a little butter for 5 minutes or so, until it goes soft. Add half a bottle or so of white wine, and then bring to the boil. Chuck in the mussels, and put a lid on tight. You'll need to steam them for 5 minutes or so - a couple of minutes before the end, throw in another good knob of butter, and the parsley, give it a good stir, and stick the lid back on.

You'll know when they're ready - the shells are open, and the mussels themselves are hot, but not rubbery in texture.

Decant into some bowls, and spoon the liquid over the top. Remember to chuck out any mussels that haven't opened...