Retro Recipe Revival: Mussels Steamed with Cider & Bacon

Retro Recipe Revival: Mussels Steamed with Cider & Bacon

It’s time for another one from the archives, this time from a recipe book that accompanied the Tower Pressure Cooker sold throughout the early to mid-90s. This week’s Retro-Recipe Revival has us dreaming of classic English seaside scenes as we bring you Mussels Steamed with Cider & Bacon.

Recommended appliance

Tower 5.5 Litre Aluminium Pressure Cooker Total Time to Table: 20 minutes Total Cost Per Serving: £3.00 Contains Nuts? No Suitable for Vegetarians? No Serves: 2 (as a main) or 4 (as a starter)

Ingredients

• x 1 small knob butter
• x 6 rashers of bacon (chopped into small cubes)
• x 1 long red chilli (chopped)
• x 2 shallots (finely sliced)
• x 1 small bunch thymes (leaves stripped)
• 1.5kg small mussels (scrubbed and bearded)
• 150ml cider
• x 2 tbspns crème fraiche
• Rustic crusty bread (to serve)

Preparation

• Heat the butter in the pressure cooker then fry the bacon for around 4 minutes until it starts to crisp.

• Next, throw in the shallots, chilli, and thyme leaves and cook for around 1 minute until soft.

• Turn the heat up to maximum and add the mussels to the cooking pot then pour over the cider.

• Close the pressure cooker lid and give the whole lot a rigorous shake (this is why we recommend using a lighter, aluminium pressure cooker!). Bring up to full pressure and cook for a further 2 minutes, shaking the pan occasionally.

• Release the pressure using the cold water quick-release method – all the mussels should have opened. Discard any that haven’t.

• Using a slotted spoon, scoop the mussels into bowls and put the pressure cooker back on the hob over a medium heat.

• Bring the remaining juices to the boil and stir in the crème fraiche.

Serving

• Pour the juice/crème fraiche mixture over the mussels that you’ve arranged in serving bowls. Serve with rustic homemade bread to mop up the sauce (the Tower Digital Bread Maker is great for rustling up all manner of crusty bread creations!)

If you’d like to try this recipe or others from the Retro Recipe Revival series, check out our Pressure Cookers and Food Preparation pages. They’re packed full of useful Tower appliances, utensils, and accessories that will help you make this meal (and many more like it) with the greatest of ease. Also, if you see something you like, make sure you visit our Deal of The Day section as we bring you an awesome discount on a different product each day.