Ingredients

Pollock works great for this dish but nearly all white fish would work well as a substitute.
For the Vegetables:
1 Carrot
1 White onion
2 Baby turnips
Sea Purslane picked, washed and blanched
Sea Aster picked and washed
For Crumb:
4 Slices of thick white bread
50g butter
50g Smoked bacon lardons
2 x banana shallots, thinly sliced
1lt vegetable oil
For the Sauce:
50g Smoked bacon trim ( skin etc)
2 x banana shallots, thinly slices
500ml chicken stock
200ml white wine
800ml double cream
Juice of half a lemon
Mussel cooking stock (see below)
For the Mussels:
20lg Mussels, washed and de bearded

Method

Preparation Method:
Roast the carrot in duck fat half submerged, for 40 minutes until golden brown at 180c.
Cook baby turnips in 300ml water with 100g butter and salt, bring to the boil and then remove from the heat.
Slowly cook onion petals in in 300ml water, 100g butter and salt for 30minutes or until very soft.
For the crumb, butter the bread and bake at 180c until golden brown, allow to cool, when cool process in a blender to achieve coarse breadcrumbs.
Pan fry the bacon on a very low heat, stirring often, when very crisp strain and rest on some kitchen towel.
In a large sauce pan heat the vegetable oil up to 180c, fry the onions until golden brown, take care as the oil will double in volume when the shallots are added, drain the shallots on kitchen towel and when all are cool, combine.
For the mussels, vacuum pack on full compression and cook for 6 minutes in boiling water, refresh in an ice bath, carefully remove the meat and discard shells, strain mussel stock to use for the sauce.
For the sauce, reduce to a quarter the wine, chicken stock and mussel stock with the shallots and bacon, then add the cream and simmer for 5 minutes, strain through a fine mesh sieve and season with lemon juice.
To serve bring the mussels up to the boil in seasoned water and butter, place a spoonful of crumb in the centre of the plate and place the vegetables and mussels round one half of the plate, sauce over the vegetables.

In these challenging times…

The Staff Canteen team are taking a different approach to keeping our website independent and delivering content free from commercial influence. Our Editorial team have a critical role to play in informing and supporting our audience in a balanced way. We would never put up a paywall and restrict access – The Staff Canteen is open to all and we want to keep bringing you the content you want; more from younger chefs, more on mental health, more tips and industry knowledge, more recipes and more videos. We need your support right now, more than ever, to keep The Staff Canteen active. Without your financial contributions this would not be possible.

Over the last 12 years, The Staff Canteen has built what has become the go-to platform for chefs and hospitality professionals. As members and visitors, your daily support has made The Staff Canteen what it is today. Our features and videos from the world’s biggest name chefs are something we are proud of. We have over 500,000 followers across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and other social channels, each connecting with chefs across the world. Our editorial and social media team are creating and delivering engaging content every day, to support you and the whole sector - we want to do more for you.

A single coffee is more than £2, a beer is £4.50 and a large glass of wine can be £6 or more.

Support The Staff Canteen from as little as £1 today. Thank you.