Mussel en Papilotte

En papillote [on poppy-yote] is French for ‘in parchment’ as the food prepared this way is steamed in paper. It's a healthy and simple way of steaming food that keeps its flavour. It should be presented wrapped in the pocket so that the aromatic steam is released when opened.

📝 Ingredients

• Vegetables
• 2 baby fennel bulbs, sliced
• 4 spring onions, sliced
• 8 baby carrots cut in half lengthways
• 1 stick celery, sliced
• 1/2 a red onion, sliced
• 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 8 sprigs fresh lemon thyme or thyme
• 2 bay leaves, halved
• Mussels
• 4 x 300 g fresh mussels, cleaned (1.2 kg in total)
• salt and black pepper
• 4 slices lemon or lime
• 60 g butter
• 4 tsp (20 ml) white wine
• parchment paper, cut into 4 large circles, lightly buttered or oiled on both sides

👨‍🍳 Instructions

1. 1Vegetables
2. 2Cook the vegetables for 2 minutes in salted water. Divide the vegetables into four equal portions and arrange on one half of each piece of parchment paper (pre-cooking is optional).
3. 3Add 2 sprigs of thyme and half a bay leaf to each package.
4. 4Mussels
5. 5Preheat the oven to 220 °C. Place a baking tray into the oven to preheat.
6. 6Place the mussels on top of the vegetables and season. Place a lemon or lime slice and a knob of butter on top of each and drizzle with a teaspoon of white wine.
7. 7Fold the other half of the parchment over the food. Crimp the edges securely, making a series of small folds all around to seal the package so that steam cannot escape.Place the parcels on a preheated baking tray and bake in the oven for 5-8 minutes. The parchment package will puff up and turn brown.
8. 8Place each package on a plate and let guests open them, being careful of the escaping steam. Serve with fresh-cut, crispy fries.