RECIPE: Good Friday Feasts! Mussels with Burrow Hill cider and bacon

RECIPE: Good Friday Feasts! Mussels with Burrow hill cider and bacon

Recipe by Mark HixCourse: MainServings

4-6

servings

Mussels are at their best during the colder months as they tend to spawn in the summer and the meat ratio to shell is small. Mussels are a great value meal and lots of fun for the kids to get involved in. I don’t think I ate a mussel until I was 16 which sounds odd being brought up on the coast but really wish I had although I did get spoilt on crab, lobster and scallops so I can’t complain I suppose. Always check the mussels are all closed when you buy them but there will always be the odd one that dies.

Ingredients

• 2kg mussels, washed and the beards removed

• 1 small onion, peeled, halved and finely chopped

• 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed or grated or a few leaves of wild garlic, shredded

• 6 rashers of good quality rindless streaky bacon, finely chopped

• A good knob of butter

• 400ml cider

• 100ml double cream (optional)

• 2tbsp finely chopped parsley

• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

• In a large pot big enough to fit the mussels (you may need two, depending how many you’re feeding), gently cook the onion, garlic and bacon in the butter for 2-3 minutes to soften the onion.

• Add the cider and simmer for a minute or so.

• Add the mussels, cream and parsley, season and cook with a lid on for a few minutes, stirring every so often until all the mussels have opened.

• Serve immediately in bowls with the liquor.