Help! What to do with fresh Mussels?

mrbadexample

custardy wrote: »

for a good double handful of mussels(very technical) i would add 1/2 to 1 clove of garlic finely sliced or crushed if you prefer
add it in with the onions but be careful not to brown the onions or the garlic
i would add the bacon a minute or so after the onion

Ahh..the recipe said bacon first. Oh well, I'm sure it'll work. Loads of mussels so 1 clove it is.

mrbadexample

Woo hoo! I've got thyme! And it's only 1 year out of date!

mrbadexample

They're in... :drool:

mrbadexample

Oh my god! I'm going on Masterchef in a minute - they were ace!

Check these out:

I fried some bacon in butter until it just started to brown. Added about half a finely chopped red onion (a couple of shallots would do if you're more organised than me ), one finely chopped garlic clove, a teaspoonful or so of dried, out of date thyme, and a couple of small chillies (not too hot, and no seeds):

mrbadexample

Then I added 150-200ml Scrumpy Jack cider (other ciders are available!), brought it to the boil, chucked in the cleaned and checked mussels, put the lid on and left for about 6 minutes, shaking the pan occasionally, until they were all open:

mrbadexample

I lifted the mussels out, then thickened the sauce with a bit of slaked plain flour, then added around 50-75ml single cream:



(sorry, not a great photo, that one.)

mrbadexample

I then put the mussels back in and mixed them up:

mrbadexample

Then I ate far more than I should have:



That would have been a decent dinner for two, or starter for four, I should think (a kilo of mussels, binned a few but not too many). A bit of French stick to mop up the sauce. I forgot to add any black pepper, but it didn't seem to matter. That was great! Well chuffed for my first go, and the whole thing would have cost no more than about £2.00 - maybe £3.00 if the mussels weren't reduced.

Thanks all for the help. :T

mrbadexample

Ok, today I've bought a seafood medley: 300g or so of squid, prawns and mussels, for 99p.

I was thinking of a seafood pasta dish. If I made the same sauce as for the mussels, would that work ok?

I think the prawns and mussels will just need heating through at the end, but the squid? Should I get that in the frying pan a bit earlier, to get a bit of colour on it?

Pink.

Hi MrBE,

If it's the sort of seafood medley I'm thinking of, all the seafood is already cooked so I would just add it towards the end and make sure it's heated through as the squid will be tough if it's overcooked.

Pink