Meat mains
Mussels with fennel
It's very easy to cook mussels at home – and they're cheap, plentiful, sustainable and good for you. Serve this with crusty bread to soak up the sweet, faintly aniseed sauce, and perhaps a green salad on the side.
Ingredients
- 1 large or 2 small fennel bulbs, finely diced
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 onion, finely diced
- 2 garlic cloves, chopped
- 200ml dry white wine
- 50ml water
- 2kg mussels, cleaned
- 2 handfuls fresh parsley leaves, finely chopped
- fennel leaves, finely chopped, if available
- 3 tbsp créme fraîche
- 2 tbsp Pernod or Ricard (optional)
Method
-
Step 1
Sauté the fennel in the butter until starting to soften. Place onion, fennel, garlic, wine and water into a large pan (with a lid). Bring up to the boil, turn down and simmer for 10-15 minutes.
-
Step 2
Raise the heat again to boil and add mussels, put lid on pan and shake over the heat for a few minutes until all mussels have opened. Discard any unopened ones. Remove mussels and place in serving dish.
-
Step 3
Boil down remaining liquid fast for three minutes. Add créme fraiche and liqueur if using, stir through chopped parsley and fennel leaves, and pour over mussels.
