Pilaff with mussels, leeks and saffron

[Ishbel]

Enough for 4.
1 kgbag Mussels
100ml dry white wine
A large pinch of saffron strands
1 tbsp olive oil
3 large leeks (about 350g) washed and thinly sliced
225g Basmati rice
300g tub of fish stock (I cheat and buy this ready-made!)
Large handful of fresh flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped
1 lemon, cut into wedges
½ tsp salt and freshly ground black pepper.


Clean and prepre the mussels.

Place the wine, saffron and 200ml cold water in a large pan. Bring to the boil and then add the mussels, cover and cook gently for 3-4 minutes until wide open.Strain, and keep the liquor. Discard any closed mussels and keep the rest warm.

Heat the oil in a large pan and gently cook the leeks for 3-4 minutes until just soft. Stir in the rice and cook for 1-2 minutes. Pour in the fish stock and reserved liquor. Cover and cook gently for 10-12 minutes until the rice is cooked and the liquid absorbed.

Add the mussels and parsley, season and serve with lemon.

[buckytom]

i am definitely gonna have to make this!!! thanks ishbel.

i love spanish/seafood style rice dishes. i would bet this would work as well with littleneck clams, or maybe even blue claw crabs.

[Ishbel]

~It's really tasty, BuckyT - I've never tried it with anything else except mussels.

Fish stock is probably the only stock I buy, rather than make from scratch... The smell of fish 'bits' cooking for hours just makes me feel a little 'queazy'! Luckily, my local supermarket sells great fish stock, very gelatinous and adds so much flavour to fish dishes.