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Three glorious mussel dishes for a seasonal treat

Mussels are environmentally friendly – the farms are thought to enhance the habitat for other sea life - Liz & Max Haarala Hamilton
Mussels are environmentally friendly – the farms are thought to enhance the habitat for other sea life - Liz & Max Haarala Hamilton

Prue Leith’s Cooking for Friends, published in 1978, was the first grown-up cookbook I bought. It marked the beginning of a long and expensive passion. Why that book? It was about being sociable. Any meal, no matter the number of people at your table, no matter how frugal the food, is a little celebration.

I’d never cooked or eaten mussels at the time, and Prue’s moules marinière looked gloriously foreign to me. I was thrilled with the pot of blue-black shells, the contrasting little ears of orange flesh nestled inside and the fact that you could cook a dish that smelt and tasted of the sea in four minutes.

I still cook mussels only when there’s an ‘r’ in the month. Mussels spawn from late spring so the summer months used to be out. Now you can buy them year-round, but I stick to the old rule as it makes them truly seasonal, something to look forward to.

My hands freeze as I clean them in a sink of water, knocking each mussel against the side, willing it to close. Mussels vary. Some are pristine, others need to be scrubbed to dislodge the sand, or are matted with stringy ‘beards’, the byssal threads that cling as you tug at them (they’re strong and help mussels hold on to surfaces).

You can see a lot in mussels: night skies, the barnacles like stars; contour maps, as you trace the growth lines on the shell with your finger; pools of water, the blue-tinged hollows in each empty shell. They’re not prized like oysters. Pearls can develop in freshwater mussels, but it’s rare. All the same, a food that develops in secret, in a hinged casket that can close in on itself, is special.

Artist Anna Koska paints stones, shells, seaweed, the flotsam and jetsam of the coast, and has had a long love affair with mussels. ‘I paint things that I believe to be beautiful, even if they don’t conform to what is generally agreed to be so,’ she says. ‘Nothing comes close to a gnarly, battle-worn mussel shell. And I’m floored by the colours.’

The pigments she uses for mussels create their own poem: cerulean and cobalt blue, burnt sienna, Naples yellow, Van Dyke brown and perylene violet. But it’s their strength Anna keeps coming back to. ‘Mussels are survivors. No “poor me” with them; we all go through rubbish times… as a child, as an adult, and progressively more so as we age, and we begin to show that age. It makes me angry that we’re discouraged from showing our battle scars. If only we could be more mussel.’

I saw mussels growing in Shetland earlier this year, glossy black knots lapped by the clearest water. Scotland produced 8,590 tonnes of mussels in 2021 – the highest figure ever – and 80 per cent came from Shetland. They’re farmed on ropes suspended from buoys, some further out at sea than others.

In May, as the water temperature rises and mussels spawn, the mussel larvae settle on ropes and cling to them. There’s no need for chemicals, medicines or artificial feed. Mussels mostly eat plankton and are harvested after a couple of years. They’re cheap and environmentally friendly. In fact, mussel farms are thought to enhance the habitat for other sea life, the ropes acting as floating reefs that provide shelter and food for other species.

I love them grilled with garlic butter, and there are so many variations on steamed mussels you could eat them every week. I make potfuls with cider and bacon, in coconut milk with chilli, ginger and Thai basil, with Indian spices, and with sherry and chorizo. Few dishes provide their own stock – the cooking liquor – as readily and quickly. This makes mussels a great base for soups, especially those made with starchy foods such as potato, pumpkin or lentils. And I could never forget Prue’s moules marinière.


Mussels, ’nduja, white beans and fettuccine

Supper in under 30 minutes. Cannellini, haricot or even borlotti beans would work. You can serve this dish on its own with bread, like a chunky soup, instead of with pasta.

1 - Liz & Max Haarala Hamilton
1 - Liz & Max Haarala Hamilton

Timings

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 15 minutes

Serves

4

Ingredients

  • 1kg fresh mussels

  • 400g fettuccine

  • 1 tbsp olive oil

  • 3 shallots, finely sliced

  • 2 garlic cloves, finely sliced

  • 80g ’nduja

  • 400g can white beans, drained and rinsed

  • 300ml dry white wine

  • Squeeze of lemon

  • 10g flat-leaf parsley leaves, finely chopped

Method

  1. Wash the mussels in cold water, scrubbing off any barnacles and removing any ‘beards’. Tap each one on the side of the sink. If it doesn’t close when you tap it, throw it away.

  2. Put the pasta into a pan of boiling, lightly salted water. Once the water comes up to the boil again, stir the pasta to ensure it hasn’t dropped to the base of the pan. Cook according to the packet instructions, then drain.

  3. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a pan set over a medium heat and add the shallots. Season with salt and cook them gently until they’re softening but not coloured, about five minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another three minutes. Add the ’nduja and break it down with a wooden spoon, cooking it until the fat runs out and stains the shallots (don’t let it burn). Add the beans, wine and mussels and cook, covered, for about four minutes, or until the mussels have opened (take a peek to check).

  4. ’Nduja is highly seasoned but you might need lemon – lemon pulls everything together – and perhaps some salt too. Add the pasta to the pot, throw in the parsley and serve straight away. Discard any mussels that remain closed.


Mussel, potato and parsley soup

Mussel soup made with starchy ingredients makes the best of their cooking liquor. Use this recipe as a starting point for others. I’m thinking of making a curried parsnip and mussel soup soon. It would also work with Jerusalem artichokes.

Mussel, potato and parsley soup - Liz & Max Haarala Hamilton
Mussel, potato and parsley soup - Liz & Max Haarala Hamilton

Timings

Prep time: 20 minutes

Cook time: 35 minutes

Serves

4-6

Ingredients

  • 1kg fresh mussels

  • 1 tbsp olive oil

  • 2 shallots, finely sliced

  • 1 garlic clove, finely sliced

  • 500ml dry white wine

  • 200g flat-leaf parsley

  • 75g butter

  • 300g potatoes, peeled and chopped

  • 1 onion, finely chopped

  • 100ml double cream, plus 4 tbsp to serve

Method

  1. Wash the mussels in cold water, scrubbing off any barnacles and removing any ‘beards’. Tap each one on the side of the sink. If it doesn’t close when you tap it, throw it away.

  2. Heat the olive oil in a pan big enough to take all the mussels. Add the shallots and cook them over a medium heat for five minutes, then add the garlic and cook for another three minutes. Tip the mussels into this and add the wine. Bring to a simmer, put the lid on top and leave to cook – shaking the pan a few times – for about four minutes, or until the mussels have opened. Cover to keep warm.

  3. Cut the stalks off the parsley. Melt the butter in a heavy-bottomed pan and add the potatoes, onion and stalks. Cook, stirring from time to time, over a medium heat for about five minutes, then add some salt and a splash of water, turn the heat right down and cover the pan. Sweat the vegetables for 15 minutes.

  4. Strain the mussels, discarding any that haven’t opened, then strain the cooking juices through a sieve lined with a piece of muslin or a new J-cloth. This removes any sand or grit. Measure the amount of liquid you have and make it up to 800ml with water (or fish stock). Keep 100ml back. Add the rest to the vegetables and simmer until the vegetables are completely soft.

  5. Blanch the parsley leaves by plunging them into a pan of just-boiled water for 30 seconds. Pour the hot water and parsley leaves through a sieve and run cold water over the leaves until they’re cool. Add the cream and the blanched leaves to the soup. Process in a blender in batches.

  6. Remove the mussels from their shells and add to the soup, keeping a few good-looking mussels in the shell back for serving. Quickly heat these in the cooking liquor you reserved. Check the soup for seasoning and divide it between bowls. Add a few warm mussels in their shells and a drizzle of cream to each serving.


Smoked mussel and pumpkin risotto

I had smoked mussels for the first time this summer in Scotland. They’d been home-smoked and were served with a creamy, herby potato salad. You don’t have to smoke your own for this risotto, you can buy them online or from a good fishmonger.

If you’d prefer regular mussels, steam them and use the cooking liquor as stock, then add the mussel meat at the end.

Smoked mussel and pumpkin risotto - Liz & Max Haarala Hamilton
Smoked mussel and pumpkin risotto - Liz & Max Haarala Hamilton

Timings

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 40-45 minutes

Serves

4

Ingredients

  • 3 tbsp olive oil

  • 75g butter

  • 600g pumpkin (unprepared weight), seeded, peeled and cut into small chunks

  • 1 small onion, finely chopped

  • 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

  • 300g vialone nano or arborio risotto rice

  • 1 litre chicken stock

  • 150ml dry white vermouth drained of oil

  • 1½ tbsp finely chopped parsley

Method

  1. Heat half the olive oil and half the butter in a heavy-bottomed pan. Add the chunks of pumpkin and stir them round to get them covered in fat. Season. Cook for about 15 minutes, stirring every so often. The pumpkin should be tinged at the edges and almost tender, but it shouldn’t have fallen apart. Keep an eye on it to make sure the pieces don’t burn. Lift them out with a slotted spoon.

  2. Heat the rest of the oil and half of the remaining butter in the same pan. Add the onion and garlic, and cook them gently until soft but not coloured. Add the rice and cook it for two minutes, turning it over in the fat so that it gets completely coated. Bring the chicken stock to a simmer. Add the vermouth to the pan and cook, stirring, until it has almost completely evaporated.

  3. Start adding the chicken stock, a ladleful at a time, stirring continuously. Don’t add any more stock until the previous lot has been absorbed. It takes about 20 minutes for the rice to cook. Halfway through this time, add the pumpkin and incorporate it into the rice.

  4. When the rice is almost ready, add the smoked mussels and the parsley. Take the pan off the heat and stir in the rest of the butter. Serve immediately.