Charred corn and tomato tostadas with smoked mussel purée
Serves: 6-8
Prep time: 30 minsTotal time: 
Recipe photograph by Matt Russell
Charred corn and tomato tostadas with smoked mussel purée
The smokiness of the mussels is accentuated by the chipotle, which gives it a gentle heat. If you can’t find corn tortillas, use pitta chips
Serves: 6-8
Prep time: 30 minsTotal time: 
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Nutritional information (per serving (1 of 6))
Calories
473Kcal
Fat
30gr
Saturates
4gr
Carbs
38gr
Sugars
7gr
Fibre
4gr
Protein
12gr
Salt
1gr
Thomasina Miers
Thomasina Miers is a chef, writer and restaurateur. She won BBC's Masterchef in 2005, co-founded Mexican chain restaurant Wahaca and has written six cookbooks, most recently Meat-free Mexican: Vibrant Vegetarian Recipes (Hodder & Stoughton)
See more of Thomasina Miers’s recipes
Thomasina Miers
Thomasina Miers is a chef, writer and restaurateur. She won BBC's Masterchef in 2005, co-founded Mexican chain restaurant Wahaca and has written six cookbooks, most recently Meat-free Mexican: Vibrant Vegetarian Recipes (Hodder & Stoughton)
See more of Thomasina Miers’s recipes
Ingredients
- 2 fresh corn cobs
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- juice of 2 limes, plus wedges to serve
- 300g corn tortillas (or pitta chips if not avoiding gluten)
- 300g ripe tomatoes, cut into 1cm dice
- 1 small red onion, finely chopped
- ½ x 30g pack coriander, leaves and stalks separated
- 1 red chilli, finely chopped
For the smoked mussel purée
- 1 large onion, finely chopped
- 120ml olive oil, plus extra as needed
- 3 garlic cloves, peeled and lightly crushed with a knife
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 3 tbsp chipotle paste
- 3 x 85g tins of smoked mussels, drained
- 1 large or 2 medium very ripe tomatoes, diced
- juice of ½ lime
Step by step
- Soak the corn on the cob in a bowl of cold water. To make the smoked mussel purée, heat a saucepan over a medium–high heat. Add the onion and oil, season with a little salt and cook for 12-14 minutes, turning the heat down to medium after 5 minutes. Once the onion has turned translucent, stir in the garlic, cumin and cinnamon and cook for a few minutes before adding the chipotle, mussels and tomatoes. Cook for 10 minutes more, until the tomatoes have broken down. Squeeze in the lime juice and taste, adjusting the seasoning if necessary, then blitz to a purée using a hand-held blender, loosening with a little more olive oil or a splash of water if needed.
- Preheat the oven to 200°C, fan 180°C, gas 6. In a bowl, whisk 2 tablespoons of the oil with the juice of ½ lime, and brush this mixture over the tortillas. Cut them into smaller circles, halves or thirds, then arrange in a single layer across two large baking sheets – if they don’t all fit in a single layer, cook in two batches. Bake for about 10 minutes until crisp and turning golden brown at the edges.
- To make the salsa, heat a griddle pan over a high heat. Chargrill the corn for 10-12 minutes, until tender on all sides. Shave off the kernels into a bowl. Add the remaining olive oil to the bowl, along with the tomatoes and onion, then squeeze in the juice of the remaining limes. Season generously with salt and pepper. Finely chop the coriander stalks and add along with the chilli; add as much chilli as you like. Spread the tostadas with the mussel purée and top with the salsa. Arrange on a platter, scatter with the coriander leaves and serve with lime wedges.
Cook's tip
To turn this into a delicious, speedy dinner, pour 200ml double cream into the mussel purée, stir into cooked linguine and scatter over chopped parsley and lemon zest.
