Mussel and Potato Soup

Posted 2016-06-16 by finy ⇒ follow

I wanted an unusual soup - not the ordinary run of the mill, and decided to use mussels as I normally cook them in a tomato sauce.

It turned out really delicious though slightly thick, and was great on the cold nights we have been having here in Western Australia.

Preparation Time: 35 minutes
Cooking Time: 30 minutes
Makes: 4 servings

Ingredients
1 kg pack cleaned mussels (Coles)
50 g butter
3 rashers shortcut bacon
1 shallot
1 garlic clove, chopped
30 g plain flour
225 g potatoes, peeled, thinly sliced
50 g pasta - I used bows
150 g double cream
½ tbsp lemon juice
1 egg yolk
2 tbsp parsley, chopped, garnish
Lemon wedges (optional), garnish

Method

Although the mussels are cleaned and debearded, I scrubbed them again and found little pieces of beard on some.

Bring a large pot of water to the boil, add a bit of oil and the mussels.

Add some salt and pepper and cook till they open which was only about a minute for most.

Mussels should be open, or partly open like this otherwise discard

Discard any that do not open at all.

Drain the mussels but keep the liquid for later.

Remove the shells from the mussels.

Melt the butter in a large saucepan and cook the bacon, garlic and shallot for a few minutes, or to your liking.

Stir in the flour, then 3 cups of the reserved cooking liquid from the mussels. Keep the balance in case it is too thick and you want to add more liquid.

Add the potato slices and simmer for 5 minutes.

Add the pasta and simmer for another 10 minutes.

Add the cream and lemon juice