It’s a classic isn’t it? Bars, tavernas, and trattoria across continental Europe, revelling in thousands upon thousands of tonnes of Mytilus edulis in their glossy, blue-black hues, with overdeveloped golden meats, luxuriating in parsley, garlic and white wine-laden broths, with fragrant, aromatic, tones billowing forth on plumes of swirling steam.

Couple with that a bowl of the crispest, finger-scorching frites , a generous dollop of homemade mayo and a frosted pint of super-chilled and sparkling continental lager and you have the makings of a very good time indeed.

But although we down them with gusto, en vacances, we’ve never really got the hang of cooking them (from live) at home. Admittedly, many, many British pubs and restaurants do fabulous things with them, but as a goto seafood staple - nah, not really. We’ve a long way to go in the moules stakes before we can compete on a level playing field with the likes of Les Belgiques.

But we should at least try. The 20,000 tonnes of product we churn out each year from our own waters, equates to the yearly throughput of your average Belgian or Dutch merchant, so we’ve a lot of catching up to do.

So here’s a very simple DIY moules recipe that takes literally seconds and is so unbelievably easy. It just needs the right fresh product and to follow these simple steps. I use many sorts of mussels, but I heartily recommend the Fowey Shellfish Co, organic blue Cornish mussels from St Austell Bay. These are rope-grown and come live but cleaned, graded and ready to cook in modified atmosphere trays (MAP) which gives them a 7 day shelf life from dispatch. They are effectively pot-ready and all you have to do is tip them in and wait a few minutes before enjoying shellfish heaven.

You cannot lose!

Moules Frites

Serves 2

Ingredients

1kg Fowey Shellfish Co organic mussels. (or 2 kgs if you’re a mussel maniac like me)

1 brown onion (chopped)

Four cloves garlic (crushed)

Small bunch chives (chopped)

100g salted butter

500 ml white wine (whatever’s there)

Ground black pepper

Sea Salt

Bunch of chopped fresh parsley (stalks and all)

1-2 tbsp creme fraiche

For the Frites

1kg Maris Piper potatoes (thinly chipped)

Sunflower oil for frying

Sea salt

Method

For the frites:

Parboil the chipped potatoes until just soft on the outside. Drain and wash in ice cold water. Drain again and dry on kitchen roll.

Heat enough oil in a heavy frying pan or wok, just so the fries will float and heat to 180C Gas 4. When up to temperature add the fries evenly and fry until the sugars in the potato start to caramelise and colour the fries a golden brown. Remove, drain and sprinkle with sea salt and keep warm.

For the moules:

Fowey mussels come ready to cook, as I explained, but it’s still worth just checking through for any damaged in transit. Take the live mussels and freshen up in a colander under running cold water. Pick out any that are broken or are fully open and don’t immediately close. Drain and put to one side.

In a heavy bottomed saucepan, melt the butter and a little oil and introduce the chopped onion and garlic. Soften over a low heat - don’t burn and when the butter starts to take on a nuttish colour and the onions are soft, up the heat till bubbling and add the half the white wine. Boil for a minute, so the alcohol cooks off and then tip chives, mussels and half the chopped parsley into the pan. Stir in all the ingredients and combine. Keep on the heat and cover.

Cook for two minutes and then lift the lid. The mussels should be fully opened, but just stir over to check. Lift the mussels out with a slotted spoon and keep on allow heat.

Put the cooking liquor onto a fierce heat and reduce by 1/4. Remove from the heat and stir in any remaining butter and the creme fraiche. Combine, add the rest of the parsley and pour over the mussels as served in warm bowls.

Serve with the homemade frites, or sautéed potatoes, crusty bread, croutons or whatever takes your fancy….. and of course some homemade mayo (see, sides)

Finally, pour the remaining white wine into a glass, sit down, scoff and enjoy!