In September, the leaves are falling from the trees and the nights are drawing in. Beautiful Sunday walks on the marshes is a typical autumn activity in our family and we finish by popping in to a local pub and ordering a warming pint of East Anglian beer, a big bowl of mussels and some crunchy wholemeal bread.
Our coastline really comes to life as the weather gets colder and the mussels plump up. To me, mussels really signify the East Anglian coastline and we are very lucky to have such a fantastic delicacy on our doorstep.
Norfolk Mussels, Beer & Bread by Richard Bainbridge
Serves 2
www.restaurantbenedicts.com
My top tips for mussels:
Ensure the mussels are fresh. If you pick them up and they are slightly open, give them a tap – you should be able to see that they slowly bring themselves together, which means they are still alive and as fresh as can be.
At home, leave them under cold running water for at least an hour. You could try this old wives tale as an alternative: put your mussels into a bucket filled with cold water, then sprinkle any type of flour into the bucket. According to legend, whilst the mussels are
still breathing, they breathe in the flour and then blow it out along with all the impurities and grit contained within. Gritty mussels are a no-no, so making sure they are thoroughly washed is paramount.
Once you’ve cooked the mussels you will need to de-beard them. This is the scraggy ‘beard’ which hangs off the curve on the inside of the shell, where they connect to either the rope or the shoreline.
‘De-bearding’ is the process of removing this – give each a little wiggle/tug to remove and discard.
Once the mussels are cooked, an open mussel is a good mussel. It should only take 2-3 minutes to cook them, so if there are any that haven’t opened or are only open a small amount during the cooking process, discard them as they will make you unwell. Make sure that they have opened wide and that they are looking juicy and plump inside before serving.
Some of the best mussels you can buy in Norfolk are on the roadsides around Blakeney and Morston Quay. If you get the opportunity and are driving by, then pick some up, drive straight home and cook them up for your tea. There is truly nothing better!
Method:
Place a large pot onto a high heat and once the pot has become really hot, add the mussels and shake well. Next, add the beer plus all of the vegetables and herbs, shake well and cover.
Continue to cook (covered) for another 4 minutes, until the mussels have opened, then remove the lid and add the cream. Bring to the boil, then once boiling, remove from the heat.
Serve the mussels in the middle of the table with warmed bread, salted butter and a bottle of your chosen beer. Settle down and dig in!
Ingredients:
• 500g-1kg Norfolk Mussels
• 1 Bottle of Your Favourite Local Beer, Plus Extra To Serve Alongside
• 50g Double Cream
• 1 Shallot, Finely Sliced
• 1 Carrot, Finely Sliced
• 1 Garlic Clove, Finely Sliced
• A Sprig of Thyme
• 1 Bay Leaf
• A Sprig of Parsley