I am normally in France at this time of year but alas we couldn’t make it this summer so I wanted to throw back to a delicious dish I had a few years ago. My friend Sarah has the most gorgeous house in Bordeaux and she is a phenomenal cook. If you’re lucky, the Eclade de Moules is her showstopper at the end of your stay! An Eclade de Moules is a beautiful mussel dish in which you stack mussels on a piece of wood, cover them in pine needles and set the needles on fire. The pine needles give the mussels an incredible unique smoky flavor which is just sublime.

Eclade de Moules is a traditional French recipe originated by fishermen who would bring in their haul and cook mussels on the beach which is surrounded by pine forests. Now we forego the fishing, enjoy a beautiful day at the beach and on the way home, gather dried pine needles from the forest, pick up 3 kg mussels, wine and bread and head home for a feast.

Next comes the somewhat arduous task of arranging the mussels in a concentric circle with the help of one nail to get you started. The mussels are stacked against each other with the hinges up. Having the hinges up ensure the ash doesn’t get inside the mussel. Once this task has been accomplished the mussels are covered in a good pile of dry pine needles. The pine needles are lit and as they burn they infuse the mussels with a delicious forest flavor.

You cook the mussels until they pop open. Using some cardboard, you fan away the ash from the mussels and eat with crusty bread, French butter and cold white wine.