St. Patrick's Day Recipe

 

 

Tried a new recipe from  

Rachel's Irish Family Food Cookbook.

Molly Malone's Cockles and Mussels Chowder

 

Image and recipe via Rachel Allen's Irish Family Food Cookbook

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons sunflower oil

4 ounces smoked bacon, diced

2 tablespoons butter

4 ounces leek, trimmed and very finely diced

4 ounces carrot, very finely diced

10 ounces potato (about 1 medium), peeled and finely diced

 

2 1/4 pounds mixed cockles and mussels

1 1/4 cups dry white wine

3/4 cup milk

3/4 cup light or heavy cream

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

4 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh parsley

 Directions:

Heat the sunflower oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the bacon and saute for about 1 minute, until crisp and golden.

Add the butter in the pan and melt. Then add the leek, carrot and potato. Reduce the heat to low and saute gently for 4 to 5 minutes, until soft but not browned.

Meanwhile, prepare the cockles and mussels. 

Scrub the shells clean and discard any that remain open when you tap them against a hard surface. 

Remove the beard — the little fibrous tuft — from each mussel.

Bring the wine to a boil in a large saucepan and add the cockles and mussels. 

Cover with a tight-fitting lid and cook for 3 to 4 minutes, shaking the pan occasionally, until the shells have opened.

Remove from the heat, drain the shellfish in a colander (reserving the cooking juices) and discard any shells that remain closed. Return the shellfish to the empty pan to keep warm.

 Place a fine sieve over a measuring cup and strain the cooking liquid. You should have at least 2 1/2 cups; if not, add water to make up that quantity.

Add the pan juices and the milk to the bacon and vegetable mixture and bring to a boil. Decrease the heat and simmer for 6 to 8 minutes, until the potato is tender. 

Add the cream and simmer for another 2 to 3 minutes, until the soup is reduced and thickened slightly. Season with salt and pepper.

Meanwhile, remove half of the cockles and mussels from their shells and add them, with the remaining cockles and mussels still in their shells, to the chowder. 

Stir in the parsley and serve at once.

Here is my version and it was delish! 

 

Serve with brown bread. 

 

 

 I hope you had a great St. Paddy's Day! 

Take care,

Claudia