Seafood Made Simple: How to batch cook mussels with this creamy tomato sauce recipe

Mussels with creamy tomato. Picture: Chani Anderson

As the evenings begin to shorten, my cooking tends to gravitate towards larger batches and pots of things.

A dish like this weekend’s steamed mussels in a creamy tomato sauce is something I’ll cook on a Sunday afternoon, on this occasion using up the last few Irish tomatoes from this summer’s bumper crop. It’s a dish that’s certain to satiate my seafood cravings after a long week in the restaurant cooking an array of marine delights.

This sauce is also fabulous with surf clams if you’re lucky enough to find a bag or two, and is equally great with all crustaceans, langoustines in particular.

I can’t recommend mussels highly enough to those who love seafood but are wary of cooking fish at home. With no skin or bones to contend with and no battling with fish fillets sticking to the base of the pan, cooking mussels at home is a breeze.

Mussels are very economical and the ultimate fast food, with only the cleaning of the shells prior to cooking taking the bulk of preparation time, a task I find wonderfully mindful.

This recipe creates delicious molluscs, filled with a deeply flavourful oceanic broth, which is released in a matter of moments once heat is applied. They are also a super nutritious food, high in protein, iron, vitamin B12 and omega-3 fatty acids.

Mussels can be eaten all year round: you’ll notice the texture and flavour of the mussel change through the seasons. They make such a sustainable choice too, their sedentary existence seeing them feed by filtering plankton from the ocean. An average mussel filters approximately 65 litres of water a day!

The blue mussel is the variety grown in Ireland, and can take up to two years to reach the desired size for consumption.

Sunday Mussels

recipe by:Aishling Moore

A dish like this is something I’ll cook on a Sunday afternoon

Servings

4

Preparation Time

 15 mins

Cooking Time

 40 mins

Total Time

 55 mins

Course

 Main

Ingredients

• 1.5 kg mussels

• 200ml white wine

• 1 small bunch of basil

• For the tomato sauce

• 2 tbsp golden rapeseed oil

• 1 onion, finely sliced

• 4 cloves of garlic, sliced

• 1 sprig of rosemary

• 1 sprig of thyme

• 1 tsp smoked paprika

• 320g fresh tomatoes, diced

• 200ml cream

Method

1. To make the sauce, heat the rapeseed oil over medium heat in a heavy-based medium-sized pot and cook the onions for 5 minutes until softened.

2. Add the garlic, rosemary and thyme and cook for 3 minutes.

3. Next add the smoked paprika and cook for 1 minute.

4. Add the tomatoes and cook for 6-8 minutes until the tomatoes begin to break down.

5. Add the cream, bring to the boil and cook to reduce for 4-5minutes.

6. Remove from the heat,  discard the thyme and rosemary sprigs and blend until smooth using a hand held blender or food processor.

7. Set aside the sauce while preparing the mussels.

8. To prepare the mussels, fill a large bowl with water and add the mussels to the water.

9. Using a small paring knife, remove any barnacles from the shells and the beard of the mussel. The beard is what the mussel uses to attach itself to the surface it grows on.

10. Rinse the cleaned mussels in a colander and refrigerate until just before cooking.

11. Preheat a large, heavy-based pot on medium-high heat for 3 minutes.

12. Add the mussels to the pot and immediately follow by adding the white wine. Place a tight-fitting lid on the pot. Give the pot a little shake and leave to cook covered for 3 minutes.

13. Remove the lid; all the mussels should be cooked and open at this stage. Discard any that haven’t opened.

14. Add the silky tomato sauce to the pot and bring back to the boil.

15. Taste at this stage to adjust seasoning. Sometimes at this stage I’ll add a squeeze of lemon juice for acidity.

16. Remove from the heat and serve in bowls, garnished with basil leaves.

Fish tales

Mussels should only be cooked when alive so discard any that have cracked shells or do not close when tapped. They should smell fresh and of the seaside.

It’s very important when seasoning shellfish dishes to taste before you add any salt. Mussels are naturally high in salt.

This tomato sauce can be made a day or two ahead of time and freezes very well.

I’ve used fresh tomatoes here but you can use a tin of good quality chopped tomatoes
instead.

If you’d like to add a little heat to this dish, finely chop one red chilli and add at the same stage as the smoked paprika.

To make this dish more substantial, fold some cooked pasta through the finished dish.