Mussel tart

  • medium
  • 6
  • 2 hours plus 2 hours chilling time
Not yet rated

These elegant little mussel tarts from Roberta Hall-McCarron use pickled mussels, a mussel custard and fresh mussels simmered in wine. You'll need extra fluted moulds for cooking the pastry, since each tart case is topped with a second mould to help keep it flat.

First published in 2023

Ingredients

Metric

Imperial

Pastry

  • 250g of plain flour
  • 3.5g of salt
  • 1/2 tsp cane sugar
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 125g of butter, cold and diced
  • 1/2 egg
  • 60g of double cream
  • 60g of cream cheese

Fennel marmalade

  • 200g of fennel, diced
  • 100g of white onion, diced
  • 10ml of vegetable oil
  • 10g of fine salt
  • 40g of caster sugar
  • 100g of rice wine vinegar
  • 40ml of pastis

Dill oil

  • 100g of dill
  • 150ml of rapeseed oil
  • ice cubes

Sugar syrup

  • 100g of caster sugar
  • 100g of water

Fresh mussels

Pickled mussels

Mussel custard

  • 100g of double cream
  • 100g of mussel cooking liquid
  • 1g of kombu powder
  • 2.5g of whole egg
  • 3.5g of iota carrageenan

Garnish

Equipment

  • 10cm fluted tart cases 12
  • Thermomix
  • Vacuum bag and machine

Method

1

For the pastry, mix together the flour, salt, sugar and baking powder. Place in a food processor with the diced butter and pulse until the butter is evenly mixed through. Whisk the egg into the cream, then add in the cream mixture and cream cheese, and pulse again until everything is evenly mixed. Mould the pastry into a cylinder, wrap in cling film and refrigerate for about 2 hours

  • 250g of plain flour
  • 3.5g of salt
  • 1/2 tsp cane sugar
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 125g of butter, cold and diced
  • 1/2 egg
  • 60g of double cream
  • 60g of cream cheese
2

Once rested, cut the pastry into 6 × 3 cm wide discs. Roll each disc of pastry out on a floured surface until it’s ½ cm thick and slightly wider than your tart case. Press into your tart cases, then use a small knife to trim off any excess pastry. Place the tart cases in the fridge and chill for at least 30 minutes

3

Preheat the oven to 175°C

4

While the tart cases chill, make the filling. Cook down the fennel and onion with the oil and salt until softened but not coloured. Add the pastis, sugar and vinegar and reduce until the water and pastis have almost completely evaporated. Set aside

  • 200g of fennel, diced
  • 100g of white onion, diced
  • 10ml of vegetable oil
  • 10g of fine salt
  • 40ml of pastis
  • 40g of caster sugar
  • 100g of rice wine vinegar
5

Blend the dill and oil together in a thermomix on high speed. Set the temperature to 85°C, reduce the speed down to 3 and bring it up to temperature. Strain through muslin into a container set over ice

  • 100g of dill
  • 150ml of rapeseed oil
  • ice cubes
6

For the sugar syrup, bring all the ingredients to a boil, then remove from the heat and allow to cool

  • 100g of caster sugar
  • 100g of water
7

Place another mould on top of each tart case, pressing down firmly. Turn the tart cases upside down, and bake for 15 minutes. Turn the tart cases the right way up, and remove the top mould. Place the tart cases back in the oven and cook for 4–6 more minutes, or until they are golden brown. Remove from the oven and let cool

8

For the mussels, heat up a deep pot over a high heat, and add the mussels and wine. Cover with a lid, and cook until the mussels have all opened

9

Pour off and reserve the cooking liquid, and discard any mussels that didn’t open. Strain the reserved cooking liquid through a muslin cloth

10

Pick all the mussels out of their shells, removing their beards. Roughly chop half the mussels and add them to the cooked tart cases. You should have about 200g mussels remaining – these will be used for the pickled mussels

11

Bring the vinegars, water and sugar to a simmer, then remove from the heat. Add all the herbs and spices and the salt, and set aside to cool

12

Once cool, strain through a sieve and pour over the reserved cooked mussels

13

For the mussel custard, add all the ingredients to a Thermomix and blend together on high speed. Reduce to speed 3, and cook until the mix reaches 72°C. Immediately pour into the tart cases

  • 100g of double cream
  • 100g of mussel cooking liquid
  • 1g of kombu powder
  • 2.5g of whole egg
  • 3.5g of iota carrageenan
14

For the garnish, thinly slice the fennel on a mandolin. Thinly slice the kohlrabi by hand and cut it into small pieces. Place in a small vacuum bag with a pinch of salt and some dill oil, and compress it using a vac pack machine

15

Peel and segment the lemon, then dice the segments and add to the sugar syrup. Squeeze and retain any juice from the lemon flesh leftover from segmenting the whole lemon

16

To serve, place a tablespoon of the fennel marmalade on top of the custard tarts and add three pickled mussels to each one. Mix the sliced fennel with a splash of olive oil, lemon juice and a pinch of salt. Place on top of the pickled mussels

  • 5ml of olive oil
17

Add a few pieces of kohlrabi and the diced lemon, and then finish each tart with a few sprigs of bronze fennel and dust with kombu powder

Roberta Hall-McCarron spent the early part of her career under the wing of Tom Kitchin but has since gone on to carve a path of her own, opening the acclaimed The Little Chartroom in Edinburgh, where her bold, seasonal food brings Scotland’s natural larder to the forefront.

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