Holiday Blues, Summer Foods

I've been lucky enough to holiday in Sardinia this summer which means I have eaten some of THE MOST delicious foods. From Juicy fruits, Fresh Buffalo Mozzarella, Moreish bread and mouth watering meals that you keep eating until you feel like you're going to explode!

There's so many things that have been inspired from my holiday on the beautiful Mediterranean island and the great thing about being on holiday with your Mother is that she does all the cooking! I've managed to learn so much from my mum's cooking and this was the perfect time to stand and watch and ask as many questions as I could.

One of my personal favourites from my holiday was Spaghetti & Mussels or as I like to call them Mammas Mussels. The shores of the Mediterranean are renowned for the fresh tasting seafood, I find fish one of the hardest things to cook but I never realised how easy mussels are, believe me!

Don't worry, I'm not saying you need to hop onto the next plane to Italy to buy a net of mussels (as much as i would love to), we're lucky enough to be able to buy these from our local supermarkets over the fresh fish counter and to top it off their cheap! Get there early though, they never have loads of them and they soon go, especially on a Friday you'll probably have a queue of Italian grandmothers purchasing for their fishy Friday dinners and believe me I wouldn't want to be arguing with them over who's going to have the last net!

So here's my four top tips for cooking and eating mussels;

1. ALWAYS wash and debeard before cooking. By debearing I mean, you need to remove the brown threads that are sometimes attached to the mussels.

2. Use the mussels the day you buy them for the best freshness

3. The best way to know if mussels are cooked is when they open

4. Discard of any mussels with cracked shells or those that haven't opened.

Head over to the recipe wall to try this delicious spaghetti and mussels recipe, or as I like to call it "Mamma's Mussels"