Chef's Recipes

Turkish-style mussel and prawn pilaki with parsley salad

Australian Gourmet Traveller mezze recipe for Turkish-style mussel and prawn pilaki with parsley salad by Greg Malouf from Momo restaurant in Melbourne.

By Gregory Llewellyn
  • 20 mins preparation
  • 50 mins cooking
  • Serves 4
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Turkish-style mussel and prawn pilaki with parsley salad
“Would you please ask Greg Malouf for the recipe for his amazing mussel and prawn pilaki? It was the highlight of a wonderful meal I shared with my wife at Melbourne’s MoMo restaurant.”
Josh McCabe, Moorabbin, Vic
To request a recipe, write to Fare Exchange, , GPO Box 4088, Sydney, NSW 2001, or email us. All requests should include the restaurant’s name and address or business card, as well as your name and address.
Pilaki is a style of Turkish mezze.

Ingredients

  • 12 large black mussels (about 250gm), soaked in warm water for 10 minutes
  • 1 tomato, scored
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 onion, finely chopped
  • 1 garlic clove, halved and sliced lengthways
  • 2 celery stalks, diced
  • 1 carrot, diced
  • 1 potato, diced
  • 1 tbsp tomato paste
  • 250 ml (1 cup) chicken stock
  • 2 thyme sprigs
  • 1 tsp caster sugar
  • 8 medium green prawns (about 300gm), halved
  • ½ a lemon, juice only
  • 2 tbsp each (firmly packed) dill and flat-leaf parsley, coarsely chopped
  • To serve: Arabic bread (optional)
Parsley salad
  • 1 cup (loosely packed) flat-leaf parsley
  • 1/3 cup (loosely packed) celery heart leaves
  • 1 golden shallot, thinly sliced
  • ¼ tsp sumac
  • 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 tbsp lemon juice

Method

Main
  • 1
    Preheat oven to 200C. Drain mussels, then insert a small knife into the round end of the mussel shell. Carefully cut the muscle holding the mussel in place, pry open, reserve juices and meat (discard shell) and set aside.
  • 2
    Blanch tomato in boiling water (10-20 seconds), then refresh, peel, coarsely chop and set aside.
  • 3
    Heat olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat, add onion and garlic and sauté until soft (5-7 minutes). Add celery, carrot, potato, tomato paste and tomato, sauté until starting to soften (5-7 minutes), then add stock, thyme, sugar, ½ tsp freshly ground black pepper and reserved mussel juice, reduce heat to low and stir occasionally until sauce is thick (20-25 minutes).
  • 4
    Add mussels and prawns to sauce, stir to combine, then add lemon juice and herbs, season to taste and remove from heat. Place a 20cm-square piece of baking paper into each of four 500ml-capacity bowls, divide mussel mixture between bowls, then tie paper in a parcel with kitchen string. Remove parcels from bowls, place on a baking tray and bake until seafood is just cooked (5-7 minutes).
  • 5
    Meanwhile, for parsley salad, combine parsley, celery leaves, shallot and sumac in a bowl, add oil and juice, season to taste, toss and serve with mussel and prawn pilaki, and Arabic bread if you like.

Notes

This recipe is from the December 2009 issue of magazine.

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