The microwave oven is great for cooking delicate fish. The main reason being the gentle way the fish is cooked. If I am on my own then I love to cook this recipe, as it does not scale up well and even making enough for two people would mean cooking the mussels in a number of batches.

One of my favorite foods are mussels, the recipe below has a lovely garlic cream sauce which really compliments the cooked mussels. Serve with fresh crusty bread to mop up the sauce.

For one serving

Ingredients

1lb live mussels
3 fl oz or 75ml dry white wine
1 small chopped shallot
1 garlic clove skinned and chopped very finely
3 fl oz or 75ml heavy cream
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 egg yolk
Salt and pepper to taste
For garnish a handful of chopped parsley.

Method

First of all you need to prepare the mussels. You will need to scrub them with a hard brush and scrape off any tufts or beards that protrude from the shells. Wash in several changes of water. Once cleaned leave the mussels to soak in a dish of water for 20 minutes. Check the mussels are tightly closed. Throw away any that are not closed tight and do not close when tapped on a chopping board, as these are dead and therefore unsafe and not suitable to cook with.

Place the drained mussels with the wine and shallot into a large microwave proof bowl. Then cover the bowl with plastic wrap and cook for about 5 minutes on high or until all the mussels have opened. You now need to throw away any mussels that have failed to open.

Then strain the mussels, reserving the liquid for the sauce. Keep the mussels somewhere warm while you make the sauce.

Add the garlic to the reserved cooking liquid and cook on high for 5 minutes or until the liquid has reduced by half. Then stir in the cream, turmeric and lemon juice, season to taste with salt and pepper, and cook this for 2 minutes to heat up the cream.

Add the egg yolk and stir, put this mixture in the microwave oven for 30 seconds or until the sauce thickens.

Take this mixture and pour over the warm mussels, then sprinkle with the chopped parsley.

I hope you find time to try this recipe out, as a recipe for a single person it is just perfect and a real treat.