Ingredients
For the mussels
- 2 kg mussels
- 100g cooked diced pancetta
- 1.5 kg heritage vine tomatoes
- 2 red onions, sliced
- 2 oranges, sliced
- 1 bulb of garlic
- 100g flat leaf parsley
- 100ml Scottish Whisky
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- Handful of Bourbon barrel wood chips
Method
For the mussels
1. Preheat your hot smoker or kettle BBQ with charcoal until it reaches 200˚C.
2. Pick through your mussels to remove any dead ones that don’t close when handled. Toss your tomatoes and onions in a large bowl with oil and season with sea salt and cracked black pepper.
3. Add a large handful of smoking wood chips to generate hot smoke. Then immediately add the mussels, tomatoes, onion, sliced orange and pancetta to the grill. Cover the BBQ with a lid and after 4-5 mins turn using tongs. Drizzle with whiskey to flambé and cook for a further 4-5 mins. Be careful doing this as the whisky will catch fire and is a fire risk. Try adding a little at a time so that the whisky steams the mussels as they flambé and infuse with peaty flavour.
4. Add plenty of chopped parsley and use your grill tongs to squeeze the juice from the BBQ orange slices before serving. You can also add more wood chips halfway through cooking if you want a more intense smoke level for this recipe.
5. Dig in and enjoyServe straight from the grill and enjoy with some caper focaccia on the side.
Top Fish Prep Tip
Pick your mussels an hour in advance, before your light your BBQ and cover with a damp tea towel and ice whilst you prepare everything else. When cooking with fire there is nothing quite as important as mise en place to make a feast run smoothly. If you have all your ingredients safely prepared and ready to go then it makes the cooking process smooth sailing!
Image by David Loftus