Friday 24 July 2015

Mussels with Bacon and Garlic in Cider

Here is a recipe from my book, I'm really into my seafood at the moment. We are not long back from Rome and Sicily and I think I managed to eat my own body weight in seafood while over there.
But here in Ireland I think a lot of people shy away from fish and seafood, I used to be just like that years ago before I got into the whole "cooking" thing. But right now I think its my favourite thing of all time!
We are, after all, an island... surrounded by water, surrounded by fish and seafood, we should really embrace it like the Sicilians do. Locate a good local fish/seafood supplier, a good fishmonger will do all the hard work for you like boning, filleting, scaling etc.
The flavours, the combinations, the health properties, the fact that it is practically on our doorstep and should always be in fresh supply should be reason enough to give it a fair go... after all, there is plenty more fish in the sea!!! (Puntastic, I know) :)


Mussels with Bacon and Garlic in Cider

Give the mussels a clean up if they need it, if the look gritty or have little beards just wash them in cold water and pull their beards off before cooking then so it won't affect your sauce.

Serves 4:
500g mussels scrubbed and de-bearded
2 large shallots
3 cloves of garlic
3 tablespoons of oil
A few sprigs of thyme
100g of smoky bacon chopped
250ml of cider
Homemade bread, few garlic cloves and olive oil
2 tablespoons of crème fraiche

Method

Finely chop the shallots and garlic.

Heat the oil in a large saucepan and add the shallots, garlic and thyme leaves and sweat for 2-3 mins, add in the bacon and cook for a further 2 mins.

Drop in the mussels and leave for 2 mins then add the cider, cover with the lid and shake around for a further 3 mins until the mussels have opened.

In the meantime slice the bread and rub with half a clove of garlic, drizzle with olive oil and toast on a high heated griddle pan.

Remove the mussels from the pot, leaving the juices. Add the crème fraiche to the juices and place onto a high heat stirring for 2 mins.

Separate the mussels into their bowls and divide the sauce over each portion and serve with the bread on the side.




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