Mussels Farci

Wash the mussels, remove the beards and discard any that are open or have broken shells. Put in a saucepan, barely cover with white wine, bring to the boil, cover and take off the heat. When cool discard any mussels that did not open, take off the half shell and put to one side.

Mreanwhile, cut the crusts off the bread and use a blender or similar to make breadcrumbs. Peel and finely chop the shallots, peel a few cloves of garlic, cut the proscuitto into lardons and chop the chives.

Put the proscuitto into pan with a smear of olive oil and quickly brown over a medium heat. Add a little more oil, add the shallots and soften for a bare two minutes and add some crushed garlic.

Put the mussels into ovenproof serving dishes, spoon over the proscuitto/shallot/garlic mixture, sprinkle over some chives and breadcrumbs (not too much), and sprinkle over good olive oil liberally. Put under the grill until quite hot but the breadcrumbs are not burnt and serve  Zoom  .