Top 10 shellfish recipes

Now the months end in an 'r' again, it's time to get down to some serious shellfish chomping.

I've always been a massive fan of shellfish. I lived by the coast for a long time, and there is nothing (in my humble opinion) quite as sublime as salty mussels, which I used to forage for to ensure their freshness. The cold walk and sifting through seaweed was always well rewarded in the kitchen later.

The need to use both hands to dig into the pot and crack open the shells, tearing off chunks of bread to dip in the white wine and cream sauce along the way, makes the dish appeal to the sense of touch as well as taste, smell and sight.

Hungry yet? Here are ten brilliant shellfish recipes from the Lovefood collection.

Always remember: if any mussels (or clams) don't open when you cook them, throw them away immediately.

Mussels with beer and coriander

Josh Sutton recommends skipping the wine and grabbing a bottle of beer instead. Quickly fry up a diced onion, and let your mussels sit in hot lager for a few minutes. Then add some chopped coriander and serve (I'd say serve with an ale or bitter to drink, not lager, but that's up to you).

If this got any simpler, I don't think it would even count as cooking. Serve with crusty bread.

Grey mullet with mussels

Why not stretch your shellfish further and add another flavour to the dish by mixing them with fish? Mitch Tonks' mullet 'n' mussels combo bakes the two in a tomato, garlic and oregano sauce with a touch of saffron.

Serve it up with rice, suggests Mitch. If you don't fancy that, or don't have rice to hand, I reckon some spaghetti would go down a treat with this.

Baked scallops with crispy serrano ham

You may be familiar with 'angels on horseback', a recipe that calls for scallops to be wrapped in bacon then grilled until the bacon is crispy. Here, José Pizarro substitutes the bacon for serrano ham and serves it on the side rather than wrapping the scallop. But the premise is the same, and the combination has an incredible taste. Prepare to be blown away.

Spaghetti with clams

Straightforward spaghetti with an often overlooked mollusc: the clam. Prepare a simple sauce using garlic, white wine, parsley and a squeezed tomato, then steam the clams open over a higher heat. Their juices will flow into the pan and, hey presto, you're done.

When serving, leave a bottle of good quality extra virgin olive oil on the table so people can add it to their spaghetti to taste. Garnish with a lemon wedge.

Oysters with lambic dressing

Oyster fans are probably getting kitted out to head to one of the country's many oyster festivals, but if you fancy you can whip up this Lambic (beer) dressing yourself and serve with shucked oysters.

If you're not into oysters, the dressing also suits prawns.

Shellfish and potatoes à la marinière

A pot of clams, razor clams, cockles and mussels cooked with sweet baby new potatoes, devised by Alain Ducasse.

A seafood dish which shows off the range of flavours shellfish can bring to a meal, with the addition of fennel, freshly ground black pepper and parsley. Serve with white crusty bread, perhaps a baguette, and a glass of cold white wine.

Lobster with ginger and spring onion

This is definitely something for a very special occasion, but if you can find an excuse and love seafood, this lobster feast will satisfy your crustacean cravings.

Ginger and spring onion are popular ingredients in Oriental cooking, proven to taste brilliant together in hundreds of other dishes. Here they add a tinge of spice to the rich lobster flavour.

Cuttlefish, prawns, meatballs and peas

Rick Stein's mix of chicken and pork meatballs with stir-fried cuttlefish and prawns is based on a traditional dish, mar i muntanya, which combines meat with seafood.

A big batch of this would offer plenty of variety for a help-yourself dinner. The sauce should be mopped up with bread, or possibly should be served with brown rice.

Quick crab linguini

If the lobster above seems like far too much effort and expense, and you want a quick fix instead, try this linguini.

It takes just about five minutes to prepare and 10 to cook, leaving you with plenty of time spare on a weekday evening. If you're really hungry, add a few prawns to the mix.

Nasi lemak and sambal prawn

Malaysian-style prawns with ginger, pineapple, coconut cream and lime juice. These sumptuous and juicy shellfish are then served on a bed of braised coconut rice.

For such a showstopper, the time investment is minimal: just half an hour to get it from fridge to table.

What's your favourite shellfish? And your favourite way to cook it? Let us know in the Comments section below.

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