Donal Skehan's Mussels with Irish Cider Cream Sauce
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients
2 kg fresh mussels
2 tablespoons butter
125 grams bacon, diced
1 large shallot, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 sprigs fresh thyme
1 heaping teaspoon Dijon mustard
300ml hard cider
4 tablespoons 35% whipping cream
Sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Handful flat leaf parsley, chopped
To serve: Crusty bread
Directions
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Prepare your mussels: place mussels in a bowl of cold water and sort through. Put any mussels that are open to one side. Tap each of these mussels against a hard surface and if they snap shut, the mussel is still alive and suitable to eat. If they stay open when tapped, discard them.
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Melt butter in a large pot or Dutch oven over a medium heat alongside the bacon.
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Cook bacon until slightly crisp before adding shallot. Add shallot and cook for 2 minutes before adding garlic. Stir these around for a few minutes and add the leaves of the thyme sprigs.
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Add in mustard, cider and stir. Allow sauce to come to a steady simmer and add in the prepped mussels.
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Turn up heat, cover with lid, and allow mussels to steam until they have opened up, usually for about 6 minutes, stirring halfway through.
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Strain the mussels into a colander, keeping the cooking liquid. Set aside mussels and bring the pan back up to a medium heat, adding the cream to the cooking liquid.
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Allow to come to a steady simmer & season to taste. Pour the creamy sauce over the mussels, sprinkle with parsley & serve immediately with crusty sourdough bread.
