Flaming Pine Needle Mussels

by Maria Finn

Flaming Pine Needle Mussels

Maria Finn

“This is my favorite way to prepare mussels,” says author Maria Finn. “It’s dramatic and delicious and perfect over a fire at the beach. The classic way in coastal France to prepare terrée de moules is to set the mussels in a circular mandala, standing upright, their opening facing upward, and covered with a pile of pine needles. Light the pine needles on fire, and as the needles flame and burn down to ash, they cook the mussels and flavor them with a smoky pine essence. I place them upright in a cast iron pan, add some butter and garlic and a splash of white wine, and then cook them over a smoldering fire, with the pine needles flaming on top of them. And along with the pine needles, you can add dried rosemary and fennel branches and let those aromatics flavor your mussels as well. It never fails to wow.”

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Course Main Course

Servings 4

Ingredients

5 pounds mussels, scrubbed clean
½ cup butter, cut into ¼-inch cubes
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups white wine
1 large bag of very dry pine needles gathered somewhere dogs are unlikely to have peed (see note)
1 dried rosemary branch, fennel or other wild herbs (optional)
2 crusty baguettes, for serving

Instructions

Build a fire. If the fire pit has a grill, then the fire can still be flaming. (If not, let it burn down to glowing charcoals and put your pan directly on the fire.)
In a large cast-iron pan, line the mussels, lips up, in a circular pattern, and fill the pan with as many as possible so they stay upright.
Tuck the butter and garlic in around the mussels and pour in the white wine.
Cover with the pine needles and rosemary, if using. (Ashes of pine needles are part of the final flavor.)
Place the pan of mussels on the fire, and light the pine needles on fire. Watch it burn!
When the pine needles burn down to ashes, remove the pan from the fire.
Let people scoop mussels straight from the pan and sop up the juices with a chunk of bread torn off a baguette.

Notes

You can rinse pine needles and then lay them out to dry if you’re worried about cleanliness. Also DO NOT make this indoors. Make it at the beach, where it can’t catch anything else on fire. Have a bucket of sand and plenty of water nearby.

Reprinted with permission from Forage. Gather. Feast.: 100+ Recipes from West Coast Forests, Shores, and Urban Spaces by Maria Finn. Photographs by Marla Aufmuth (April 9, 2024, Sasquatch Books)

Keyword seafood