Mussels & Red Pepper Sauce Zucchini
By: Justina Elumeze
Published: Thursday, August 31, 2017 - 10:14am

Ingredients




For the Red Pepper Sauce
3 large red peppers
1/2 cup almond milk
1 clove garlic
1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
Pinch salt
Pinch pepper
1/3 cup nut butter
For the Mussels
2lb live mussels
1 cup dry white wine
2 shallots, chopped
3 clove garlic, chopped
½ cup double cream / coconut cream (optional)
Pinch salt
Pinch pepper
Bunch fresh parsley, chopped
For the ‘Zughetti’
6 fresh zucchini, washed and spiralized
1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
Pinch salt
Pinch pepper

Preparation

1 For the Red Pepper Sauce 2 Pre-heat the oven to 180c and line a baking tray with kitchen foil. 3 Wash the peppers and place in the baking tray before placing in the oven and roasting for approximately 30 minutes or until the skins blacken. Ensure that all sides of each pepper are blackened. 4 Remove the peppers from the oven and allow to cool before removing the blackened skins and discarding, along with the seeds and stem of the peppers. 5 Place the remaining flesh of the peppers, along with the rest of the ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. 6 1.	Set aside. 7 For the Zucchini 8 In a pan, heat the oil before adding the zucchini and gently sauté for a few minutes. Just before the zucchini starts to produce any water, sprinkle on the salt and pepper before adding the red pepper sauce to the pan and stirring all the contents together. Allowing the sauce to cook for just a minute or so is sufficient. 9 Remove and set aside. 10 For the Mussels 11 In a pot, add the butter and on a medium setting heat until melted. Add the shallots along with the garlic and sauté for a few minutes until softened. 12 Add the wine, salt, pepper and half the parsley to the pot, stir together and cook for a few minutes until the wine reduces somewhat. Add the mussels, cover the pot with a lid and with the heat turned higher, allow to cook for approximately six minutes or until the mussel shells have opened (any longer will result in rubbery mussels). 13 If adding the cream, do so at this point and cook for approximately a further minute. 14 Remove the mussels from the pot with a spoon.. Don’t pour the mussels out as you want to ensure that any sand or grit remains at the bottom of the pot. 15 Place the mussels in a bowl and slowly pour the remaining broth into a separate container in order to not disturb any grit that may have settled at the bottom. 16 Sprinkle the remaining parsley over the mussels and serve along with the zucchini and pepper sauce. 17 Notes 18 (If you haven’t prepared fresh mussels before, do go to my ‘How to Clean and Prepare Mussels’ post before cooking.) 19 Studies have shown that it may be perfectly okay to consume mussels that remain closed after being cooked. 20 http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2008/10/29/2404364.htm 21 http://frdc.com.au/research/Documents/Final_reports/2002-418-DLD.pdf

About

Garlic and white wine mussels served with spiralized zucchini smothered in a creamy roasted red pepper sauce.