These have become a local speciality at Osbornes.
Steve and I had great fun filming this. Steve hunted out a popcorn cup especially. I added my own touch by adding pickled caper popcorn to the mix – which gives a lovely salt and vinegar finish.
Ingredients
1kg live mussels
30g butter
handful of chopped sage
1 large shallot, finely sliced
1 clove garlic, chopped
100ml vegetable stock
freshly ground black pepper
a large dram of whisky (up to you – but usually about 2-3 tbsp)
5 tbsp crème fraiche or mayonnaise
Method
To prepare, pick over each mussel – the shell should be tightly closed.
If open, use the ‘percussion’ and tap the mussel at the hinge end – if it closes it is still alive, if it doesn’t – discard it. Discard any shells that are cracked or broken. Remove the ‘beard’, the seaweedlike attachment at the centre of the shell easily done with a quick pull.
If heavily barnacled, scrape these off with the back of a knife.
Cover the mussels with a damp cloth and refrigerate until required. Just before using rinse well under cold running water. Any mussels that have opened up should shut again in contact with the cold water. If they don’t, discard them.
Melt the butter in a large saucepan, add the sage, shallot and garlic and soften over a low heat for 1 minute until the sage and garlic have released some aroma and the shallot has softened.
Add the mussels to the pan. Heat the whisky in a ladle over a medium heat, ignite with a lighter and pour the flaming whisky over the mussels. Cover the pan with a lid and steam over a medium heat for 3 minutes or until the mussel shells are fully open. Discard any that have not opened.
Using a slotted spoon, lift the mussels into a serving dish. Return the pan to the heat, bring to the boil and reduce to half the original quantity. Whisk some of the liquid into the crème fraiche and return it to the pan, bring to the boil and adjust the seasoning before spooning over the mussels to serve.
Add a final flourish to impress? You can always ignite a final splash of whisky and pour this over the mussels to serve. Serve with warm bread or remove from the shells and toss into a large bowl of linguine with more sage to serve.