The Perfect Pot – Spicy Mussels with Cider & Sourdough -

Paid partnership with Our Place
USE CODE THANKFIFI10 FOR 10% OFF*

Hello and welcome to my dream partnership. Now and again something really blows me away and the Always Pan was one of those things (I first mentioned it here). Well, I caught wind of the brand launching a new piece of do it all cookware and I reached out to them because I knew, if it was anywhere near as good as the pan, I had to share it, scratch that, SHOUT it from the rooftops.

The Perfect Pot is the Always Pan‘s (new) best friend and an absolute game changer… AND I have a discount code for you – THANKFIFI10 for 10% off*.

I wanted to share a recipe (scroll down a bit for that) that could really show off this dynamic duo and I settled on the spicy mussels with cider, steamed in the pot and served with their own sauce strained over, a side of samphire simply pan fried and a crusty sourdough baked in the oven. These two can handle it all.

Designed with the same ingenuity that made the Always Pan a hit (hello 60k waiting list), the Perfect Pot does it all – everything from braising to baking, boiling to steaming, straining to roasting plus a lot more volume – he is BIG. I adjusted my recipe quantities to cook enough for six and this guy handled it with ease (3kg of mussels need a lot of space). He is so ready for dinner parties and those long awaited family gatherings.

The Perfect Pot moves seamlessly from hob to oven (oven safe to 215C) and is surprisingly lightweight – I bake and crisp my sourdough in here now too and it is perfect every time.

This pot thought of everything and everyone; as I gave the lid a quarter turn to the built in strainer and poured some extra sauce expertly over his serving of mussels, the husband even said to me ‘wow, that’s cool’ (high praise from a man who spends very little time in the kitchen – only because I hog it to be fair). As I rested the beautiful beechwood spoon, I gave it a little tilt to show him the notches that allow it to slot right onto the pot and I like to think the wide eyed look he gave me was his mind being blown.

Our Place’s always-reliable, exclusive, nontoxic, nonstick ceramic coating is quite unlike anything I have ever experienced. Nothing, and I mean nothing (looking at you scrambled eggs), sticks to these babies. Clean up is an absolute breeze – a simple wipe with a sponge and you are done.

Truly, the more I discover about Our Place the more I LOVE this brand. Co-founder Shiza Shahid has built a business rooted in representation and impact. Shiza grew up in Pakistan as a vocal advocate for women’s rights and social justice, co-founded the Malala Fund with her friend Malala Yousafzai and built the organisation as founding CEO. She was named one of Time Magazine’s 30 people changing the world. Shiza launched Our Place to bring people together around food and home-cooking and, guided by this vision, Our Place gives back to causes from food justice to civil rights. Using recycled and sustainable materials and packaged in biodegradable and compostable materials designed to minimise waste, Our Place are rooted in representation and inclusion, immigrant and woman of colour-owned and more than 80% of the products are sourced from a woman-owned factory.

Finally, and I realise you probably do not need me to tell you this because you can see for yourself in the photos, these two are gorgeous. There are many delightful colour combinations to choose from but I opted for the Blue Salt to tie in with my kitchen and outdoor dining space because this cookware is not the sort you hide away in a drawer – I keep mine pride of place atop the hob and serve from them ‘à table’. Honestly, there is no need to store them away because I never reach for any other pot or pan now – these two have it covered.

I had quite a few questions when I first shared the Always Pan… these pieces are not cheap and you wanted to know if they were worth it… do they live up the hype? Three months in and I can say, without a shadow of a doubt, YES.

Scroll down for the recipe…

USE CODE THANKFIFI10 FOR 10% OFF*

save even more by snapping up the Home Cook Duo (Perfect Pot and Always Pan bundle)

SPICY MUSSELS WITH CIDER, SAMPHIRE & SOURDOUGH

Ingredients (Serves 4 as a main)

180g dry cure bacon lardons
2 large shallots, finely sliced (sidenote: the knives are a 10/10 too)
1/2 tsp chilli flakes
250ml cider
2kg mussels, scrubbed and debearded
125ml double cream
large handful flatleaf parsley, roughly chopped
black pepper

220g samphire, washed

1 loaf of sourdough (recipe here – I adjust the cooking times for the Perfect Pot to 40 minutes at 210C with the lid on followed by 12 minutes with the lid off)

Method (25 mins prep, 15 mins cooking)

Place the pot over a medium heat and fry the lardons until golden. Add the shallot and chilli and gently fry for 2–3 minutes until softened. Pour in the cider and bring to the boil.

Discard any mussels with broken shells and any that refuse to close when tapped. Add the mussels to the cider, cover with the lid and allow to steam for 4 minutes, or until open, clamping lid shut and shaking/tossing once or twice during cooking to distribute the sauce and steam.

Meanwhile, gently pan fry the samphire in just a drop of olive oil for 2-3 minutes until tender.

Remove the mussels from the heat, stir in the cream and parsley and season with pepper.

Serve at the table (asking guests to discard any mussels that remain closed) with samphire on the side and sourdough to mop up the sauce. Enjoy.

Please tag #ThankfifiFood on your Instagram pics if you try it – I love seeing them.

Find my other recipes here.