As the season reaches its peak, the tomato glut becomes a mixed blessing. I have grown tired of the early yellow varieties, enjoying this months flush of Rouge de Marmande and Roma. With a little home grown chilli, a bunch of basil, some garlic and a bag of black local mussels, a soup is born and la vita è bella, as we lunch in the garden on a still, hot day.
Black Mussels are a sustainable and cheap seafood in Victoria, retailing for around $6.00 a kilo, and are grown in the cool clean waters of Port Arlington and Mount Martha in Victoria. They are sweet and briny, unlike their large, green lipped New Zealand cousins which tend to be fibrous and tough. Tasmanian black mussels are lovely too.
I found this summer soup in The River Cafe Book by Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers, but have made some adaptations along the way.
Zuppa Estiva di Cozze – Summer Mussel Soup.Â
- 2 kilo of mussels, cleaned
- 100 ml olive oil
- 3 garlic cloves, 1 chopped, 2 sliced finely.
- 1 large bunch basil, stalks removed
- 1 small chilli, seeded and finely chopped
- 1.5 kilo ripe tomatoes, skinned, seeded and chopped, all juices and seeds retained
- sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.
- Heat 4 tablespoons of olive oil in a large, heavy based saucepan, add the garlic slivers, and cook gently until golden. Add half the basil leaves and the chopped tomatoes and cook, stirring over a fierce heat, until the tomatoes break up and reduce a little. This should take around 15 minutes.
- In another large, heavy saucepan, fry the chopped garlic in the remaining olive oil until golden, then add the mussels and a few basil leaves and the remaining, reserved tomato juice. Cover, and cook on a high heat, shaking as you go, until they are open. Remove them as soon as they open and leave to cool. Remove most of the mussels from their shells, retaining a few for serving.
- Reduce the mussel/tomato stock for five minutes, then strain it through muslin into a bowl. Add some or all ( to taste) into the tomato sauce. Reheat the sauce and reduce a little.
- Add all the mussels to the sauce, add the rest of the basil and season well.
Serve in big bowls accompanied by a simple Bruschetta.
An unexpected surprise! The stock in step 3 is not retained in the original River Cafe recipe. It is just too good to waste. From now on, when opening mussels for any dish, I intend to use this combination of tomato juice and garlic, instead of wine, and retain a batch of stock in the freezer for another dish.
Urban Myth.
Don’t discard those unopened mussels. The advice to “throw away mussels that refuse to open”, began in the 1970s when there were concerns over some European mussels being dredged from polluted mussel beds. This advice has been repeated without question by chefs and in many ‘how to cook fish’ cook books since then. See the following:
- http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2008/10/29/2404364.htm
- http://www.australianmussels.com.au/portal/mythbusting
ALMOST ITALIAN 
Gorgeous photos Francesca! Looks delicious. I only lived near the sea once in my life and that was in Florida and in those days I was too busy working to cook much. It must be such a pleasure to be able to get such beautifully fresh seafood.
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It is a pleasure indeed. Cheap and cheerful.
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I told a terrible unintentional lie just then… I lived in Darwin too! Seafood was not plentiful to the locals there in those days, unless you caught your own. I did eat a few Barramundi caught by my husband, but the taste varied from muddy to okay, so am not a huge fan. Mud crab okay, but we didn’t have them often… so maybe I’m just not a seafood person???
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Love! One for this weekend maybe!
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Thanks Miss N. It really is worth peeling and seeding those pomodori for this one.
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Aren’t mussels divine? Love ’em. In the mid 1960s we used to catch our own – with other Italian familis – in the waterways of Sydney’s innerwest. I wrote a blog post about it a while ago. Still brings back great memories. http://ambradambra.wordpress.com/2013/10/30/working-out-for-our-mussels/
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I just read your post. Italian migrants in Melbourne would have been much happier in the 50s as mussels have always been on the menu in Victoria. They don’t grow so well in Sydney, preferring cooler waters I suspect.
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From memory, we used to forage for them here in Sydney in Spring or Autumn, when it wasn’t quite so hot. My dad also used to check the moon, tides etc. Very picky about his mussels!
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Oh boy, you know my tomato crop has been a failure! I’m so jealous .. Love these photos Francesca .. divine! Fancy that being an urban myth .. Love mussels however they are done
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Hi Julie, Now I am a little embarrassed that I slightly bagged NZ mussels in my post. I must say that the smoked mussels from Coromandel are my favourite food memory and I dream about eating bags full.
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Oh don’t worry Francesca .. My father-in-law from the UK flatly refuses to eat them! 😀
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looks and sounds amazing. Thanks for the recipe. Buon appetito 🙂
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Thanks Andrew.
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Yum! I’m pleased with the efforts being made by Matthew Evans et al to promote sustainable/labelled/quality seafood. Recipes and gorgeous photos like this, just go to show it’s possible 🙂
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Yes, it is slow to filter through to the shops though. Haven’t seen any good labelling yet, though small fishmongers will answer questions and usually know the source of their products.
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I confess to not being a huge mussel fan, but I adore tomatoes. Perhaps I need to try them together! Have you noticed how the price of mackerel has sky rocketed since being recommended as sustainable?
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I haven’t noticed the price rise in mackerel as I don’t like it so rarely notice it. There are lots of other fish that are sustainable which haven’t hit the spotlight yet.
Ah, if you don’t like mussels, you won’t enjoy those smoked mussels from Coromandel, but there are other smoked fishy things there.
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I look at fish these days and balk at the prices. It’s heading into luxury territory. My comsumption has slowed down so I guess that’s helping the fish stocks too. Fresh sardines are looking good..
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yes, and lets hope that the prices stay down for sardines ( of which there are plenty). Prices for leatherjackets are cheap too- nice with an Indian or Chinese sauce. There’s a good little fishmonger in a daggy old market at Brunswick- prices are still reasonable, happy to fillet, shuck oysters to order and so on. Remember the good old days flathead were cheap?
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Yeah, that dates us!
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I love black mussels more than the green ones 🙂 It sounds like you’ve got a delicious bounty. Do you make passata?
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I do make passata, but not in monster batches. I bottle some but also freeze a lot of sauce.
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This is making me look forward to our summer…:)
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Golly this looks sensational! The colours marry so well and just come to life. Wish I liked mussels but Ive only ever experienced bits of old boot when I try.
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Its a love or hate thing with mussels. I think I just love the juice more than anything.
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I am off to the Vic Market tomorrow, and guess what I am going to buy?! This soup looks delicious. I made a marinate mussel salad a couple of month ago, and that was delicious.
Mussels in France are pretty yummy too.
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Yes, the French mussels are lovely and very cheap too. The Vic Market is fish heaven for me.
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