Pickled Mussels with Radish and Apple.

 Bring a thumb of water containing a sprig or two of thyme and a couple of bay leaves to a rolling boil in a large pan.

Drop in the cleaned and de bearded mussels and place the lid on.

After a minute give the pan a shake and cook for a further 30 seconds or so or until the mussels have opened.

Drain over a bowl to reserve the juices and leave to cool.

When cool remove the mussels from the shells and add to a bowl with a handful of toasted coriander seeds some of the cooled cooking liquor, a good dash of sherry vinegar, dill and ground pepper and leave in the fridge to steep.

For the dressing  place a blob of dijon mustard into a bowl add a little pickling liquor and mix - slowly add extra virgin olive oil, whisking all the time to emulsify - season  and add a few sprigs of dill.

Take some french breakfast radishes and half, slice some apples and  rolled in lemon juice to stop them de-colouring - assemble on a plate with fresh radish leaves, the mussels - dress and serve.

Mussels Rockerfeller.

 Blanch a few hand fulls of spinach in salted water for a minute or so drain and stop the cooking process by rinsing with cold water and leave to cool.

In a large saucepan, big enough to hold all your mussels, melt a knob of butter and gently fry a finely chopped shallot and stick of celery, when softened increase the heat and add the mussels- when the pan starts to sizzle add half a glass of white wine and a small shot of pastis, (traditional its dry sherry and pastis, but white wine is fine - if you do not have pastis add a few more tarragon leaves to the sauce later in the recipe to add the extra aniseed flavour), cook for a minute and give the pan a shake - after another 30 seconds or so, when the mussels fully open, remove from the heat and drain over a bowl, reserving the cooking liquor.

Squeeze all the liquid out of the spinach and place in a blender with the cooking liquor, finely chopped parsley leaves, a few sprigs of tarragon - leaves only and few drops of tabasco and blitz.

the mussels should now be cool enough to handle so remove the empty half shells and return to a pan - pour in the sauce and gently reheat and serve.

Roast Butternut Squash, Choritzo and Sage.

 

Peel and de-seed the squash then cut it into large chunks, place in a baking tray, drizzle with olive oil, season and scatter over a few ripped sage leaves, a chopped de-seeded chilli and roast in a medium hot oven until 3/4 cooked.

In a frying pan heat a little good quality oil and fry off some slices of cooking choritzo - when the choritzo is releasing its oils and starting to colour add some of the roasted squash and continue to fry, turning occasionally to colour -  a minute or so before serving add some finely chopped sage leaves.

Serve with some good crusty bread for the juices.