Grilled mussels with garlic and parsley

Method

1. To make the herb butter, mix the butter and crème fraîche in a small food processor or in a bowl with a wooden spoon until very smooth and well combined. Pick the leaves from the parsley, reserve a couple of stalks, then finely chop the leaves. Mix in the parsley leaves, almonds, garlic, shallot, paprika and a pinch of salt and pepper. Beat in the lemon juice a little at a time. Set aside at room temperature.
2. To cook the mussels, warm the butter in a large saucepan with a lid over a medium heat. Add the shallots and garlic and fry for a couple of minutes. Add the white wine and the reserved parsley stalks, turn the heat right up and simmer for 5 minutes. Add the mussels, put the lid on and cook for 4 minutes, just until the mussels are opened. Strain the mussels in a colander (you can keep the liquid to use in a fish soup, or to use in a sauce for white fish). Let the mussels cool completely. Discard any that haven’t opened.
3. When the mussels are cold, remove the flesh from the shells. Discard half the shells and place a mussel in each remaining shell.
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4. Spread the herb butter generously over each mussel, making sure each one is generously and completely covered, then scatter on the breadcrumbs in an even layer. Arrange the mussels on a baking tray – arranging them on small mounds of rock salt stops them from moving around or tilting and makes sure all of the delicious herb butter stays in the shell. If you don’t have any rock salt, you can make tiny mounds of crumpled foil and nestle the shells on them.
5. Heat the grill up as high as it will go. Grill for a couple of minutes, just until bubbling and golden. Serve straight away.