A warming soup for a cold day, this easy blend of mussels, fennel and cream is served with toasted garlicky bread.
Ingredients
- 1 kg/2lb 3oz fresh
mussels - 200ml/7fl oz
white wine - 1 tbsp
olive oil - 1
shallot, finely chopped - 1
garlic clove, finely chopped - 1
fennel bulb, roughly chopped - pinch
saffron - 50ml/2fl oz aniseed
liqueur - 300ml/10½fl oz fish
stock - 100ml/3½fl oz
double cream - 2 tsp
coriander cress (or finely chopped coriander) - 1 loaf
white bread, sliced - 2 tbsp
olive oil - 1
garlic clove, halved
Preparation method
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Clean the mussels by thoroughly scrubbing them under plenty of running water, pulling away and discarding the ‘beards’, the seaweed-like stringy threads. Discard any broken mussels, and any mussels that don’t close tightly when you tap them.
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Place the mussels in a saucepan, add the white wine and cook for 3-4 minutes.
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Drain, reserving the cooking liquor, and pick the mussels from their shells. Set aside the liquor and the mussels, but discard the shells.
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Heat a large frying pan and add the oil. Add the finely chopped shallot, garlic and fennel and cook for 3-4 minutes.
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Add the saffron, aniseed liqueur, stock, three-quarters of the mussel meat, finish with the cream
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Cook for a further 3-4 minutes until warmed through, then blend with a stick blender until smooth.
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Heat a large griddle pan and drizzle the sliced bread with oil and rub with the halved clove of garlic. Toast the bread on the griddle for 2-3 minutes.
Required techniques
James Martin recipes from Saturday Kitchen Best Bites
Less than 30 mins preparation time
10 to 30 mins cooking time
Serves 4
