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You may be thinking after reading the title of this post what I was thinking when my friend Davey came back from a vacation in the South of France and told me had eaten mussels with roquefort and really liked them. I had never heard of this combination before, and at first it sounded strange. But since Davey liked it so much, I was curious and did some googling. I found several highly rated recipes online, so I thought it was worth a try. I am glad that I did, because mussels and blue cheese are magical together! The blue cheese makes the mussels seem sweeter, and the lovely sauce is great to mop up with bread. I will definitely make this again!
I based my recipe upon this one in French that I found online and seemed to make sense to me. Here’s my version.
Ingredients
For 2 servings
1 kilogram (2.2 lbs) mussels
80 grams (3 oz) roquefort, or other strong blue cheese
125 ml (1/2 cup) crème fraîche
1 large shallot, minced (or 2 small ones)
30 grams (2 Tbsp) butter
125 ml (1/2 cup) dry white wine
freshly ground white pepper
1 Tbsp minced fresh flat leaf parsley
salt to taste
Preparation
Clean the mussels and discard mussels that are open and won’t close when you tap them. Put the mussels in a pan and add the white wine.
Close the pan and cook the mussels over high heat until they open, about 5 minutes.
Stop the cooking as soon as all (or most of) the mussels are open. Do not cook them longer than necessary as otherwise they become tough and lose their flavor.
Drain the mussels, reserving some of the liquid.
Melt the butter in a frying pan over medium heat and add the shallots. Cook over low heat until the shallot is soft and fragrant, about 5 minutes.
Add the crème fraîche…
…and the roquefort.
Cook over low heat, stirring now and then, until the cheese has melted. Season with freshly ground white pepper.
Take most of the mussels out of their shells and add them to the sauce. Keep some mussels in the shell for decorative purposes and add them to the sauce as well. Add the parsley.
Add a bit, about 60 ml or 1/4 cup, of the mussel liquid to the sauce. Taste and add some salt if needed (mine didn’t) or more mussel liquid if you like. Adding more mussel liquid will make the sauce saltier, but also thinner.
Stir and cook over medium heat until the mussels are warmed through and the flavors have blended.
Serve with crusty bread.
Wine pairing
A dry but fruity and slightly creamy white wine is best for this, such as an unoaked chardonnay from the south of France.
Stefan's Gourmet Blog 
Hi, Stefan. I guess you are back from down under, so welcome back. You know Baby Lady & I love mussels. I love blue cheese. Baby Lady not so much. Regardless, I have never tried mussels with blue cheese. This is definitely on the to make list, 🙂 although I will have to omit the chiles on this one. 😉
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Thanks Richard — thanks to the wonders of scheduled posts the cooking I’ve done in August has been spread to two months’ worth of posts so the posts would continue during my absence.
Thanks for omitting the chiles 😉
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I am not much of a seafood person, but this, I can have the whole platter of it! I love every detail of it! 😛
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Thanks Fae, it is very good!
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Beautiful!!
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Thanks!
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This is completely new to me, Stefan, and never would have thought to put bleu cheese and mussels in the same late, let alone prepare them together. I must try this. Thanks for sharing your recipe.
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You are very welcome — would love to hear what you think! I never would have though to combine this either, so I’m glad my friends brought back this idea from France.
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Quite new to me also ~ but what a delightful challenge: I would have been afraid the blue cheese would have been too strong a contrast to the delicacy of mussels – obviously not! This I must really try 🙂 ! [Grinning] Please some more ‘australiana’ even if you think us oh so incredibly ‘provincial’ compared to Europe 🙂 !
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I was surprised myself the combination worked so well.
Two more posts from Australia coming up!
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Oh yes, please!!!
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I am going to try this … but with gorgonzal instead, since I’m in Italy. How fabulous!
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🙂
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I have had similar preparations in restaurants- this recipe looks delicious. One must not be afraid of fish and cheese; that is passé! Beautiful recipe. I am a huge Roquefort fan.
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Many fish recipes with delicate tastes would be overpowered by adding cheese, but mussels can stand up to quite a lot.
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I agree!:-)
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Superb! Making this for my father-in-law, but what I really want to do, is eat all of it myself !!😀
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Made this last night, so good. Delicious with a nice crusty bread.
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