Went to fish areas and seaside with my sister to catch some fish. Only 4 leather jacket fish. Then we saw the mussels boat hauling a good load. We each bought some. At least we did get out of the house for some fresh sea breeze.

The difficulty part is giving mussels a good scrub and scrape to remove any barnacles or dirt and debeard mussels. Letting them rest in cold water for a couple of hours. Meantime, I went to get pasta, frozen peas and diced bacon. Went for coffee with friends, invited them over for mussels pasta.

One of my friends bought some doughnuts, another bought Pinot white wine and the other help me getting dinner ready. Oh, one thing I learned when having friend help can be quick but created a mess in my kitchen. We nearly have no mushroom sauce. The cap of the blender didn’t close tightly, splashed out everywhere. Anyway, it’s a simple dinner that is delightful to eat with friends laughing at the mistake, each bowls is colourful, comforting, and delicious with a glass of wine. Let’s cook!!!!

Ingredient

1.2 kg mussels
water enough to cook mussels
150 g diced bacon
150 g peas frozen
500 g spiral pasta
salt and pepper to taste

Mushroom sauce

3 Tbs olive oil
2 Tbs unsalted butter
1 Tbs minced garlic
1/2 onion, peeled skins and minced
250 g sliced white button mushrooms
300 ml double cream
salt

Method 

Rinse the mussels in cold running water, and then give them a good scrub and scrape to remove any barnacles or dirt. Discard any with broken shells and give any open ones a sharp tap: if they don’t close, then throw them away too, because they’re dead. Pull out the beards, then leave them to sit in cold water for a couple of hours until ready to use.

In a saucepan add water and a pinch of salt, then add pasta and cook until al dente. Reserve 1 cup pasta water. Removed from heat, add the peas and bacon to cook slightly or blanch them in the pasta water. Drain dry and keep warm with foil loosely cover until ready to use.

While pasta cooking, cook 225 g mushrooms in a saucepan. Heat oil and butter over medium heat. Reserved remaining mushroom for later. Add onion, garlic and mushrooms. Cook for approximately 5-6 minutes until softened. Stir as necessary. Add cream and season with salt and pepper. Continue cooking additional 4-5 minutes. Let it cool for about 5 minutes, then transfer to Nutri Bullet, blend until creamy. If too thick add a bit of pasta water about 1/4 c.

Now drain the mussels and pour into the pasta pan with water. Cover and cook until most of them have opened: about 5 -7 minutes. Discard any mussels that are not open. Removed the shells and keep warm until ready to use.

Add creamy blended mushrooms and the remaining mushrooms back into saucepan to warm up about 4 minutes. Then add cooked mussels, pasta, peas, bacon and stir well to coat in sauce for about 4 minutes. Check seasoning and serve immediately with a glass of Pinot.

https://helenscchin.com/2016/03/07/mussels-pasta-in-mushroom-sauce/

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