Baked mussels with tomato and fregola

1 HOUR 10 MINUTES | SERVES 4 | EASY

This is a wonderfully messy dish that requires hands-on eating and lots of napkins!

olive oil 3 tbsp

shallots 6 long, thinly sliced

butter 20g

leek 1 large, thinly sliced

fennel 1 large, thinly sliced (fronds reserved)

garlic 3 cloves, crushed

dried chilli flakes 1-2 tsp

fennel seeds 1 tsp, crushed fregola or giant couscous 250g white wine or cider 125ml (optional) fish or vegetable stock 400ml, hot

passata 300g

mussels 1kg, scrubbed, beards removed, rinsed

mint 3 sprigs, leaves chopped

lemon 1, juiced

• Heat the oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4. Put a roasting tin in to heat up with 2 tbsp of the olive oil. Once hot, add the shallots, butter and a generous pinch of salt, and cook in the oven for 10 minutes.

• Stir in the leek and fennel, and return to the oven for another 10 minutes until the vegetables are starting to soften. Add the garlic, chilli and fennel seeds, and cook for a further 5 minutes.

• Add the fregola, stir well, then add the wine or cider, if using (if not, add an extra 125ml of stock or water), the stock and passata, and return to the oven for 10 minutes.

• Turn up the oven to 220C/fan 200C/gas 7. Give everything a good stir and if the fregola mixture is very thick, add some just-boiled water (up to 150ml). Return the tin to the oven, along with a second roasting tin with the remaining tbsp of olive oil to get hot. Have the mussels ready in a colander.

• When the second tin is hot, tip in the mussels – they should sizzle a little. Add the fregola mixture and give everything a good stir, again adding more just-boiled water or stock if it seems too thick. Return to the oven for 10-15 minutes or until the mussels open (discard any that don’t open). Stir in the mint and lemon juice, garnish with the reserved fennel leaves, and serve.

PER SERVING 583 KCALS | FAT 24.9G

SATURATES 5.8G | CARBS 58.3G | SUGARS 11.3G

FIBRE 9.4G | PROTEIN 26.7G | SALT 1G