Stuffed mussels
Ideally you should use large mussels in this Corsican recipe, but you can’t always guarantee they will be big here in the UK. You can double up two mussels into one shell if necessary.
Ingredients
- mussels: about 60 mussels, scrubbed and debearded
- white wine: 150ml/5fl oz white wine or vermouth
- parsley: 1 large sprig flatleaf parsley
For the stuffing
- breadcrumbs: 25g/1oz fine breadcrumbs
- pecorino: 25g/1oz hard, melting cheese, such as Corsican local cheese, or a mixture of gruyère and pecorino
- parsley: 2 tbsp finely chopped flatleaf parsley
- tarragon: 1 tbsp finely chopped tarragon
- basil: 1 tbsp finely chopped basil
- garlic: 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- olive oil: 30ml/1fl oz olive oil
Method
Preheat the oven to 200C/Fan 180C/Gas 6.
Discard any mussels with broken shells and any that refuse to close when tapped.
Put the wine and parsley sprig into a large lidded saucepan or casserole and bring to the boil.
Add the mussels and cover with the lid. Leave to steam for 4–5 minutes, or until the mussels have fully opened. Discard any mussels that remain closed.
Remove the mussels from the casserole one at a time. Remove half of their shells and place them, shell down, on a large baking tray. Drizzle over a little of the cooking liquor, then discard the rest.
For the stuffing, mix all the ingredients together. Divide the stuffing between the mussels, placing it on top of the mussel flesh. Bake in the oven for 5 minutes, or until lightly browned. Serve at once.
