Butter: an ingredient maligned for years but unfailingly delicious and versatile. The time has come to celebrate its virtues – especially over spreadable imposters.
Try to buy butter as locally as your shopping allows, then bake it in a baguette, bursting with the flavours of tarragon, parsley and garlic – perfect for mopping up the heady juices of these saffron mussels.
Saffron mussels with a tarragon garlic baguette
Prep 40 min
Cook 20 min
Serves 4
1 splash olive oil
3 shallots or 1 medium onion, peeled and finely chopped
250ml Pernod or a dry, rich white wine
2 big pinches saffron
2kg mussels, scrubbed and beards removed, dead ones discarded
3 heaped tbsp creme fraiche
For the baguette
120g softened butter, plus 50g for the mussels
3 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
Salt and black pepper
1 bunch each tarragon and parsley, finely chopped
1 large baguette, split lengthways and across the middle
Heat the oven to 180C (160C fan)/gas 4 and line a baking tray with a reusable silicone mat, baking paper or foil. Start with the baguette: mix the butter and garlic in a bowl, and season well. Stir in half the herbs and spread generously over the cut sides of the bread. Sandwich back together, wrap in foil and bake for about 20 minutes. Once golden, turn off the oven but leave the bread inside.
Meanwhile, get on with the mussels. Melt the remaining butter in a large, deep pan for which you have a lid. Add the oil and shallots, and cook over a medium heat for eight to 10 minutes, until the shallots are translucent. Turn the heat to medium-high, add the wine and saffron threads, and bring to a simmer. Bubble for a few minutes while the liquid becomes fragrant, then add the mussels to the pan.
Shake the pan a few times, cover and cook for three to four minutes, or until most of the mussels have opened. Sprinkle in the rest of the herbs and the creme fraiche, stir, then taste the sauce: season if need be.
Transfer to warm bowls, discarding any mussels that haven’t opened, and serve with slices of the crusty garlic baguette.
And for the rest of the week
Use any precious leftover bread to boost a spring vegetable or French onion soup, either as crispy croutons or in its base. Make double the amount of tarragon butter: it will transform a roast chicken and many other things.
