In COOK: The Only Book You Need in the Kitchen, acclaimed chef Karen Martini shares a lifetime of cooking, eating and learning about food. This is an essential collection of more than 1000 recipes, from old favourites to brilliant new dishes.
Karen has inspired generations of home cooks, and with this milestone book she brings us a generous breadth of cuisines and ingredients, celebrating vibrant flavours from a uniquely Australian perspective. Karen won’t just show you what to cook, she will teach you how to cook, with everything you need to prepare effortlessly delicious meals.
Each recipe in this modern classic is packed with hard-won wisdom from Karen’s inspiring career and Tunisian-Italian heritage. Providing midweek meals, signature spreads, dinner-party dishes, and feasts for special occasions, COOK will guide you to make each meal your own. Enjoy an incredible array of classic and contemporary recipes – from the simple to the elaborate – suitable for all skill levels.
“I’ve been making this dish almost as long as I can recall. Engagingly rustic, it’s a step up from the simplest versions of mussels with a tomato-based sauce, but has a real edge of sophistication from the chorizo, saffron and slippery pearl couscous. I love mussels in the colder months, like I do so much seafood, when they taste sweeter and more pure. Black mussels are wonderful in this, but you could use larger clams instead.” – Karen Martini
Photography: © Mark Chew
Mussels with chorizo, tomato & white wine
Serves: 6-8 as a starter
Ingredients
- 250 g (9 oz) dry spicy chorizo sausage, finely diced
- 6 French shallots, finely diced
- 4 garlic cloves, finely diced
- 4 red bird’s eye chillies, finely sliced into rings
- 2 fresh bay leaves
- 5 saffron threads
- 250 ml (8½ fl oz/1 cup) Roasted tomato passata, or jarred passata
- 150 g (5½ oz) pearl couscous, fregola or pastina
- 300 ml (10 fl oz) white wine
- 2 kg (4 lb 6 oz) black mussels, scrubbed, beards removed
- 2 handfuls of flat-leaf (Italian) parsley leaves
Staples
EVOO, S&P
Method
Heat a good splash of oil in a large heavy-based saucepan over a medium heat. Fry the chorizo until starting to brown, about 3 minutes. Add the shallot, garlic, chilli, bay leaves and saffron. Cook until softened, about 5 minutes, then add the passata and cook for 5 minutes on a medium–low heat to thicken a little. Remove from the heat.
Cook the couscous in boiling salted water until tender, then drain and lightly coat with oil.
Heat a large saucepan over a high heat for a couple of minutes, then add the wine. Add half the mussels, cover and cook until they steam open, about 4 minutes. Lift out the mussels with tongs or a slotted spoon, then add the remaining mussels to the pan. Once cooked, remove the mussels and strain the liquor through a fine-mesh sieve, into a bowl. Remove any stray beards from the mussels and most of the top shells, leaving some whole for effect.
Clean out the pan, as there may be grit left behind. Tip in the chorizo mixture and reserved mussel liquor over a high heat, then add the mussels, parsley and couscous and bring to a simmer. Drizzle in some oil, and a splash of water if it is looking dry. Check for salt, season with pepper and serve immediately
Pair with
Bread, lots of bread …
— COOK by Karen Martini (Hardie Grant) is out now.
COOK
In COOK: The Only Book You Need in the Kitchen, acclaimed chef Karen Martini shares a lifetime of cooking, eating and learning about food. This is an essential collection of more than 1000 recipes, from old favourites to brilliant new dishes.
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