Mussel salad with fried bread

Mussel salad with fried bread. Photo / Babiche Martens

Serves 4

1 kg mussels
1/2 cup white wine
1/2cup vegetable stock
1/2 cup olive oil
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 Tbs currants
1 small ciabatta, torn into bite-sized pieces
2 red peppers
100g pancetta
Flat leaf parsley to garnish

1 Scrub the mussels then put in a saucepan. Pour over the wine and stock, cover and bring to a boil. Cook for 5 minutes to steam open the shells. Drain, remove the shells and roughly chop the mussels.

2 Heat the olive oil in a large pan. Over a medium heat cook the garlic gently for 1 minute then add the currants and the bread. Toast for 5 minutes.

3 Grill the red peppers over a flame or under a grill. Turn them as the skin blisters and blackens then either put into a paper bag or a bowl covered with plastic wrap and leave to steam for 30 minutes. Peel off the skin, remove the seeds and slice. Grill the pancetta until crisp, let cool then tear into pieces.

4 Combine the mussels, currants and bread with the pancetta and the peppers. Pour over the remaining juices and oil from the toast and the peppers. Toss to combine, taste for seasoning and add roughly chopped parsley.