This delicious recipe for mussels, leeks and bacon on sourdough toast comes from Giles Edwards – the chef and owner of the late and great La Tête restaurant in Cape Town (sadly now closed). He opened this spot in trendy Bree Street and specialized in a nose-to-tail menu concept rooted in French cooking.

I’m keeping a few of the pics up as a memory about this truly lovely restaurant.

I had been encouraged to try the lamb broth and it was heavenly. Deeply flavoured lamb consommé – clarified first and then the delicious bits added back, and I felt like I added at least a month onto my life it tasted that nurturing and nutritious. The octopus and mint salad was vibrant and tasty and the pickled chicken of the wood mushrooms with char-grilled green beans was inspired and packed a flavour punch.

The mussels, bacon and leek dish sent me directly to food heaven and nestled on fried sourdough toast, this is the stuff of food dreams people. I loved it so much I made the recipe right here. It was also published in the March edition of Taste Magazine.

The pig cheek, radish and watercress salad was fantastic as was the beer-battered fried hake sandwich with egg salad and cress. Giles pickles his own capers so you find them dotted all over this menu, which makes me very happy. Giles brought the deviled chicken hearts and potato for me to try (he was trying to push my boat out here with me) and I really enjoyed it. Served on a silky intense jus, that had us scraping the plate.

All this deliciousness before two sublime desserts of made-to-order madeleines that come fresh out of the oven to your table, and the most delectable floating island in crème anglaise imaginable (it has a salty and caramel kick that will send you over the edge). Dunk the madeleines in the custard and sip on a lovely sweet wine while you are at it.

Here are a few more pics of the lunch and you will find the recipe below for the mussels.

Notes on the recipe – I used 400gms of mussels because that is how many I bought so I changed Giles’s Recipe to include a few more. His recipe had it down as 250 grams.

Recipe – serves 2

Prep Time:15

Cook Time:50

Ingredients

400 gms fresh mussels in the shell cleaned
1 ½ cups white wine
2 leeks washed and cut into 4cm long pieces
3 Tbsp butter
100 gms pancetta or thick-cut streaky bacon cut into lardons cubed
2 Tbsp finely chopped parsley
Half a lemon
2 slices sourdough bread
Olive oil for frying the bread

Instructions

Steam the mussels in a medium pot with 1 cup of white wine until they open. Strain the cooking liquor through a muslin cloth and reserve it. Allow the mussels to cool and then remove them from their shell.
Braise the leeks in a small pot with the lid on with the remaining ½ cup of wine and 2 tablespoons of butter. It will take around 50 minutes to one hour depending on how thick your leeks are. Cook this on very low heat and check to ensure the liquid doesn’t dry up at the end.
Fry the sourdough bread in a non-stick pan with olive oil until golden brown on both sides. Set aside.
Using the same pan cook the pancetta/bacon until golden brown and crispy. Drain on a paper towel wiping down the pan with any excess fat.
Add the cooking liquid (from the mussels), the leeks and the bacon back to the pan and cook until the liquid has reduced by half. Add the mussels, remaining tablespoon of butter and chopped parsley and gently shake the pan or stir so that the butter emulsifies with the liquid.
Finish off with the juice of about half a small lemon and serve on top of the fried sourdough ‘crouton’. The bread soaks up all the juices, which is utterly delicious.

Servings: 4 as a starter

Author: Sam Linsell