Mussels again

Every Saturday morning and every Thursday afternoon the coquillage van comes to the village from Bouzigues on the Etang de Thau. Even though they're an almost everyday dish here, I still think of mussels as a real treat and find it hard to resist them...and even harder to resist photographing them!

Lunch today was these mussels, breadcrumbed and fried and served with a squeeze of lemon and a green salad.

Last night we tasted our own foie gras for the first time (from our trip to the Gers a couple of weeks ago) and it was wonderful, and friends who came to supper enjoyed it too. I made individual salads with leaves from the garden and a few slices of cou farci (another souvenir of our trip to the Gers), and served the slices of foie gras on the side with red peppercorns. The main course was Lo Jardinièr's delicious asparagus risotto with cured ham. The sheep's cheese we bought in Le Grau d'Agde and then fresh local garriguette strawberries to follow.....and a little bit too much wine throughout the evening, so a slow start this morning!

In LARGE you can see the tiny limpets* on the mussel shell.

* as ceridwen points out, these are barnacles, not limpets.