Serves 4
Ingredients
- 1 medium cuttlefish (about 1kg) cleaned with tentacles
- 1kg of mussels cleaned and beards removed
- 1 large glass (about 250ml) of good dry white wine
- 1 medium glass (about 175ml) of dry vermouth
- 4-5 shallots (about 100g) finely sliced
- 4 large cloves of garlic finely chopped
- 1 sprig of thyme
- 100ml of very good extra virgin olive oil
- 6 ripe plum tomatoes (about 400g) skinned de seeded and diced
- 1 medium red chilli deseeded and finely diced
- 100g new season spinach leaves washed and stalks removed
- ½ bunch of flat leaf parsley (50g) roughly chopped with stalks
- A really good pinch of saffron
- 1 lemon juiced
- Salt & milled black pepper to taste
Method
- The first thing to do is get the right pan, I would use a skillet or deep frying pan with a lid.
- Put the pan on the heat and once fairly hot add the mussels, there will be a lot of noise, this is good. Give the mussels a stir and add the wine and vermouth to the pan. Cover with a lid for 1-2 minutes to cook through
- Once cooked strain through a colander, reserving the liquor and set aside.
- Now take the cleaned cuttlefish and thinly slice the body into thin slices. Cut the tentacles to a similar size
- Clean the pan and put back on the heat, once medium hot again add the olive oil. Season the cuttlefish and add to the pan, fry for a few seconds turning a few times without colouring.
- Now add the shallots, garlic and thyme sprig to the pan and keep cooking for another couple of minutes
- Once the shallots have softened add the saffron and sieve the mussel stock into the pan. Now bring the pan back to the boil
- Reduce the temperature of the pan and cook slowly making sure that all cuttlefish are immersed in stock and there are only tiny bubbles rising from the stock. Put the lid on and cook until soft, this will take between 45 minutes to an hour depending on how thin the slices of cuttlefish are.
- Once soft add back the mussels to the pan, picking half out of the shell and stir to heat through.
- Just before serving, add the spinach and tomatoes to the pan. Season well and finish with lemon juice and the chopped flat leaf parsley and stir through before serving.
Serve with a good crusty baguette and crisp white wine if you like…
