Indian Mussel Chowder

By Simon Gault

Rich in flavour, this mussel chowder is delicious. A perfect entrée for the dinner party table but perfectly fine just by itself. This recipe will have your guests wanting more. Serves 4

Ingredients

5kg Mussels
500ml White wine
225g Butter
225g Plain flour
750ml Whole blue milk
5 litre Simon Gault Home Cuisine fish or vegetable stock
30g Simon Gault Home Cuisine Indian seasoning
2 Large onions, finely diced
3 Garlic cloves, finely diced
175ml Tio Pepe (dry sherry)
Pinch of Fresh grated nutmeg

Instructions

Clean mussels discarding any with cracked or broken shells. Cook mussels with the white wine on medium heat. Remove mussels from the heat, discard any mussels that do not open during cooking and remove the tongues and beards. To debeard your mussels, pull the threads down towards the pointy end of the shell, discarding the brown foot and any muscle attached to the shell.
Place the mussel meat into a food processor and pulse until it is turned into a chunky paste (make sure it’s not turned to a purée because you still want see some mussel texture inside). Set aside.
In a saucepan melt the butter then add the flour and cook for 4 minutes continuously stirring. Add the milk in slowly, stirring continuously to avoid lumps. Bring to the boil then reduce to a simmer and cook for a further 15 minutes being careful not to catch on the bottom. Add the Simon Gault Home Cuisine fish or vegetable stock and the Simon Gault Home Cuisine Indian seasoning. Bring to the boil and set aside (this is a veloute).
In a separate pot sweat off the onions and garlic until completely cooked (until they’re very soft with no colour), add this to the veloute and mussels, bring to the boil. Add the Tio Pepe (dry sherry), adjust the seasoning then serve.