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, (traditionally 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 are 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.