This is sexy eating and drinking food. Cutlery required or not, drinking mussels from their shells and eating prawns with your fingers by intimate candlelight can be very impressive as a starter for dinner for two. With no fuss ingredients, be ready to roll with this starter as an appetizer.
As my very Irish lovable husband says-
‘there’s both eating and drinking in it’
Serves 2
You Will Need -
1 tblsp butter/ olive oil
2 smoked slices bacon or 50g lardons
1-2 scallions
small stick celery finely chopped
10-12 live mussels washed and de- bearded
12 Dublin Bay Prawns shelled & de-veined
1 medium potato
1 tsp dried /sprigs of dill
1 bay leaf
600 ml fish stock
1 small garlic clove crushed or finely chopped
100 ml cream
sea-salt & white pepper
To Do -
Peel potato and chop with the bacon into cubes. You could use lardons either, trim excess outer rind though.
Wash and finely slice scallions.
Melt the butter or oil in a pot. Add potatoes, bacon and celery and fry over medium heat for 5-8 minutes without colouring.
Wash the mussels thoroughly, scraping off the beards and rinse 4 or five times. Throw out any open mussels.
If you are using shelled frozen prawns, defrost for an hour at room temperature before using.
Add fish stock to the potatoes, bacon and celery with the mussels and prawns. Break the bay leaf in half and add in with 3/4 of diced scallion. Keep the rest for garnish.
Add the garlic.
Simmer for 8-10 minutes, check that the mussels are all open and add cream.
Simmer for another 2 minutes.
Season to taste with salt and pepper, remove bay leaf.
Add dill and chopped scallion to garnish.
Serve hot.
Enjoy!
Sheelagh x.
What a romantic idea for Valentine’s Day!
~Ruth
And it’s light as a starter, so leaves plenty of room for chocolate dessert. Very important