Inver, on the west coast of Scotland, is the only Scottish restaurant to receive a Michelin Green Star, in recognition of its sustainability and the quality of the cooking. Pamela has been described as one of the world’s most exciting thinkers about food, sustainability and landscape, her first book Between Two Waters published by Canongate, comes out in September 2024. This recipe originally appeared in an interview with Pamela by themodernhouse.com
Pamel’s tip for home cooks is to find the best possible produce you can, ideally from a market; somewhere that the produce hasn’t travelled from far away, covered in plastic. This recipe would be particularly delicious with the whites or rosé below
Recipe: Mussels with Lechoso chickpeas, cumin and spinach
‘Rob and I went to Sicily on holiday and I ate some very fat chickpeas, which were so startlingly delicious that they made me think I’d been cooking chickpeas wrong all these years. It turned out they were a particular variety – lechoso – meaning ‘creamy’. But they’re nutty too, in texture and flavour. They pair well with the creamy, briny shellfish and the brown cumin butter.
‘For large main-sized bowls of mussels to serve to two people, you’ll need the following amounts. For four people, double the mussels (allowing 500g per person), chickpeas, spinach and leeks; you won’t need to double the cumin butter as this recipe makes plenty. Sweet poppy peas and young broad beans, or leek scapes, are great seasonal variations for the vegetables. Throw them in the broth at the end to cook them lightly.’
Serves 2
Ingredients
For the cumin butter:
- 50g cumin seeds, crushed in a pestle and mortar or a spice grinder
- 50g rosemary needles, chopped finely
- 125g butter
- 50g sunflower oil
For the croutons:
- A slice or two of old sourdough bread
For the mussels:
- Olive oil
- Salt
- 200g large leaf spinach, washed and still a little wet
- 200g leeks, thinly sliced
- 250ml dry white wine
- 1kg mussels, cleaned and plucked of beards
- 60g crème fraîche or thick cream
- 1 lemon
- 200g cooked lechoso chickpeas – you can find them cooked in jars, or buy dried ones and cook them yourself until creamy and tender
Method
- Melt the butter in a small pan till it starts foaming. Whisk over a medium heat, until the butter starts to smell nutty and the little flecks of milk solids turn golden brown. Remove from the heat and sieve through a fine mesh sieve or damp muslin cloth.
- Heat the brown butter and sunflower oil in a tall pan to 160°C then remove from the heat. Add the crushed cumin; it should sizzle, but not scorch. Add the rosemary and cover the pan to infuse for at least two hours in a spot warm enough to keep the butter liquid (such as the back of the stove). Warm the cumin butter back up and then strain through muslin into a bowl. Allow the pulp to hang in a warm spot till all the butter has dripped through.
- Pre-heat oven to 180°C. Tear the bread into 1cm pieces then toss in 2 tbsp of olive oil. Toast in the oven on a baking sheet for 6-8 minutes until crispy on the outside but still chewy in the middle. Add a few flakes of salt.
- Heat some good olive oil in a large pan, add the spinach and a pinch of salt. Cover and allow to wilt for a minute before placing in a colander over a bowl. Wipe the pan dry, slosh in some more olive oil, add the leeks with another pinch of salt and cook for a few minutes until soft and just turning translucent.
- Add the wine, turn up the heat to reduce it by around half. Add the cleaned mussels and clamp the lid back on the pan. Turn the heat to full and cook for 2 minutes. Remove the lid; almost all the mussels should be gaping open. If not, stir them and put the lid back on for another minute. After this, remove any mussels that refuse to open as they may have been dead on arrival.
- Divide the spinach between 2 large soup or pasta bowls. Using a slotted spoon, add the mussels. With a stick blender, or a whisk, add the crème fraîche or cream to the mussel broth. Taste it – if the broth needs more brightness to balance the briny savoury-sweet mussels, add a squeeze of lemon juice. Add the cooked chickpeas and return briefly to the heat. Spoon in the cumin butter then ladle this frothy broth over the waiting bowls of mussels. Scatter over a few crispy, chewy croutons, and eat immediately, using the stale bread to sop up the broth.
Wine recommendations
Serve with crisp, flavourful whites like Soave, Picpoul de Pinet or Vinho Verde. Rosés are always a great option with seafood too.
