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Ballystraw mussels
Everyone loves a bowl of steaming fragrant mussels.
They should be fat, juicy and smothered in heaps of garlic and herb flavoured cream. For a change I like to cook them on the barbecue over some hickory wood chips, which imparts a very subtle flavour to the dish.
Ingredients
- serves: 4
- time: N/A
- oven temp: N/A°C / N/A°F
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
- 1 small onion, finely chopped
- 900 g/2 lb mussels, scrubbed clean
- 2 plum tomatoes, peeled, seeded and diced
- 120 ml/4 fl oz white wine
- 120 ml/4 fl oz cream
- 1 tbsp torn fresh basil
- 1 tbsp herb oil
- 4 slices caramelised Dunbrody onion crostini
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
Ballystraw mussels
Heat the olive oil in a heavy-based pan. Add the garlic and sauté for 1 minute, then tip in the onion and continue to cook for another minute.
Add the mussels to the pan with the tomatoes and stir until well combined, then pour in the wine and allow to bubble up. Stir in the cream with the basil and herb oil, then cover and cook for 3-4 minutes, shaking the pan occasionally until all the mussels have opened, discard any that do not. Season to taste.
To Serve
Ladle the mussels and liquor into wide rimmed serving bowls and add a slice of the caramelised Dunbrody onion crostini to each one.