This summer, I spent a week with friends on Mull, where we picked tiny, jewel-like wild raspberries, discovered fields of chanterelles and fished for mackerel. We bought (at absurdly little cost)langoustines, crab, lobster and mussels from fishermen friends just hours after they’d been taken out of the sea. And we spent every night in the kitchen, dreaming up recipes to do justice to such stunning ingredients. Our hostess, Dorothea, cooked a version of today’s mussels. I’ve used smoky chipotle chillies, but by all means use normal chillies or, as Dorothea did, scotch bonnet.
Mussels with chilli and almonds
The spicy, nutty sauce brings out all the natural sweetness of the mussels and manages to balance buttery richness with a fresh, citrussy taste. Serves four.
2-3 dried chipotle chillies
2kg live mussels
100g slivered almonds
4 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
2 banana shallots, peeled and finely chopped
100g unsalted butter, softened
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 large handful finely chopped parsley
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
Zest of ½ lemon, finely grated
120ml dry vermouth
2 tbsp olive (or vegetable) oil
Tear open the chipotles, discard the seeds and toast the flesh for 30-40 seconds in a medium-hot dry frying pan, until they smell fragrant. Transfer to a small bowl, add boiling water to cover and leave to rehydrate. (If using fresh chillies, omit this stage.) Meanwhile, scrub clean the mussels and remove their beards.
Bash the almonds to small crumbs with a pestle and mortar (or put them in a plastic bag and whack with a rolling pin). Mix the nuts, garlic and shallots into the softened butter and season generously. I prefer the sauce to have some texture to it, but if you prefer something smoother, blitz in a food processor. Once the chipotles are soft, finely chop and put them in a bowl with the parsley and the lemon juice and zest.
Gently heat the vermouth in a small saucepan. Heat the oil in a large pan with a lid and, when it’s smoking hot, throw in the mussels, cover, shake the pot a few times, then leave on the flame for a minute. Pour in the hot vermouth, cover and leave the mussels to steam open – they’ll take five to eight minutes. Once the mussels are open, pour the cooking juices through a fine sieve into a bowl, holding back the mussels in the pan with a spoon. This will get rid of all the grit.
Put the mussels back on a high heat and add the butter mix. Cook for a few minutes, stirring, then add the chipotles, parsley, lemon, and the reserved mussel juices. Serve in large heated bowls with crusty bread.
Flash-roast Thai mackerel with coconut rice
The fish cooks in less than quarter of an hour, so make paste and rice in advance, then sit back and feast. If you can find coriander with its roots attached, grab it: they have an intensely sweet flavour. Serves four.
½ bunch coriander, leaves picked, stalks washed and reserved
1 thumb-sized piece fresh ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
3 garlic cloves, peeled and roughly chopped
2 lemongrass stalks, tough outer layer removed, the rest finely chopped
2 bird’s eye chillies, stems removed and roughly chopped
1 heaped tbsp demerara sugar
1 tbsp sesame oil
4 tbsp fish sauce
Juice and zest of 1 lime
4 whole mackerel, cleaned and gutted
For the rice
300g long-grain white rice, rinsed
300ml coconut milk
To serve
Lime wedges
Roughly chop the coriander stalks (and roots, if you have them) and mix with the ginger, garlic, lemongrass, chillies and sugar. Finely chop in a food processor, or pound to a paste in a large pestle and mortar. Add the sesame oil, two tablespoons of fish sauce, and the lime zest and juice, and whizz or pound again.
Cut three slashes on each side of the mackerel, then rub the marinade all over, including inside the cavity. Leave to marinate while you prepare the rice. The fish can be left to marinate for up to two hours.
Put the rice, coconut milk and remaining two tablespoons of fish sauce in a saucepan and add cold water to come 3cm above the rice. Bring to a boil, cover with a tight-fitting lid and cook on a high heat for five minutes. Turn down the heat to its lowest setting, cook for eight minutes more, then take the pan off the heat and leave, covered, in a warm spot for 10 minutes. The rice will happily sit for up to an hour and a half, but if you plan to leave it that long, cover the surface with a piece of greased baking paper under the lid, to hold in that precious moisture.
While the rice is cooking, heat the oven to 220C/425F/gas mark 7. Put the mackerel on a large, foil-covered baking tray, spoon over any excess marinade, and roast for 12-15 minutes, until the flesh comes away easily from the bone. Run a fork through the rice, and serve alongside the mackerel with wedges of lime.
And for the rest of the week…
I tend to make lots of Thai paste at a time, because it freezes so brilliantly. Pack the paste into small containers or ice-cube trays, and freeze for use in midweek soups, noodle dishes and stir-fries. If you have any rice leftover, refrigerate it and use to make fried rice; always a winner with the children and an easy way to sneak in vegetables.
I doubt you’ll have any cooked mussels left over, but if you do, blitz the flesh with enough extra-virgin olive oil to loosen. Fry some sliced garlic in oil, then toss into cooked linguine with the mussel sauce, a handful of chopped parsley and some toasted breadcrumbs.
• Thomasina Miers is co-owner of the Wahaca group of Mexican restaurants.
