Ember-baked mussels with brown butter and sea greens
This casual seafood feast from Andi Tuck is the perfect summer sharing supper
Andi Tuck, head chef at St Kew Inn in Cornwall, shares his recipe for ember-baked mussels with brown butter and sea greens
www.rockoysterfestival.co.uk
Serves 2
- Butter 100g
- Onion 1, peeled and diced
- Good white wine 125ml
- Porthilly mussels 750g, scrubbed and debearded
- Marsh samphire 50g
- Sea purslane 20g
- Parsley 50g, finely chopped
- Sourdough 1 load, to serve
- Build a wood fire (use a kiln-dried hardwood, something like birch, ash or apple) in a kettle barbecue or fire pit. Allow the fire to burn down until you have smouldering embers, then place a grill rack over the top.
- Place a small heavy-based pan on the grill and gently cook the butter until it starts to turn golden brown. Remove from the heat and set aside.
- In a large heavy-based pan, cook the onions in the wine. Reduce the liquid by a third.
- Slowly stir the butter into the onion mix to emulsify. Remove from the heat and set aside somewhere warm.
- Give the fire a blow to get some oxygen into the embers. Place the mussels directly onto the rack, ensuring the hinge of the mussel is at the bottom (so the juices don’t fall out).
- Within minutes the mussels should start to open. As they open, use tongs to pluck them from the grill and place them in the butter mix.
- Once they’re all cooked (discard any that don’t open) fold the sea greens and parsley into the butter and mussel mix.
- Serve in shallow bowls with chunky slices of sourdough.
You will need
- Butter 100g
- Onion 1, peeled and diced
- Good white wine 125ml
- Porthilly mussels 750g, scrubbed and debearded
- Marsh samphire 50g
- Sea purslane 20g
- Parsley 50g, finely chopped
- Sourdough 1 load, to serve
Method
- Build a wood fire (use a kiln-dried hardwood, something like birch, ash or apple) in a kettle barbecue or fire pit. Allow the fire to burn down until you have smouldering embers, then place a grill rack over the top.
- Place a small heavy-based pan on the grill and gently cook the butter until it starts to turn golden brown. Remove from the heat and set aside.
- In a large heavy-based pan, cook the onions in the wine. Reduce the liquid by a third.
- Slowly stir the butter into the onion mix to emulsify. Remove from the heat and set aside somewhere warm.
- Give the fire a blow to get some oxygen into the embers. Place the mussels directly onto the rack, ensuring the hinge of the mussel is at the bottom (so the juices don’t fall out).
- Within minutes the mussels should start to open. As they open, use tongs to pluck them from the grill and place them in the butter mix.
- Once they’re all cooked (discard any that don’t open) fold the sea greens and parsley into the butter and mussel mix.
- Serve in shallow bowls with chunky slices of sourdough.
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