1 recipe: Saffron Soup with Mussels (p180)

I'm busy tomorrow, so I shopped tonight. The Friday plan has firmed up to Chocolate Bavarois, Creme Anglaise and Poached Salmon with Buerre Blanc (possibly in that order); tonight was meant to be Piedmontese Peppers but I forgot the anchovies, so it's just as well that I went a little OTT and sourced the ingredients for Saffron Soup With Mussels too. Which I'm cooking now.

The wine, as always, took longest to find (the gelatine leaves took a while too). I think this is essentially a soup version of Moules Mariniere, so I fancied a good dry German white in it. Sainsburys has the teensiest of German selections. Minute: only a few bottles hidden between the all-conquering spanish and french. Which made the choice difficult: a cheap bottle and risk it, or something more expensive that may be risking it anyways. In the end, I settled for an Ernst Loosen Riesling. And in traditional style, I'm going to cook half and personally evaporate the rest... tasting notes to follow... hmmm... apricots. Well, more like biting the fesh around an apricot pit; like the stuff you paint on to stop nailbiting, slightly bitter but strangely inviting. And sweeter than I expected.

Final straits now... waiting for the potato to soften so I can put in the mussels and declare the soup done. But there doesn't appear to be enough liquid for this to really be called a soup. I'll see what happens, but for now it seems somehow wrong. Tasty, but wrong.

My god it's good. The cream was enough to push it over the liquid edge from stew to soup, and it's no more an extension of Moules Mariniere than Jordan is an extension of Debbie Harry. It's rich, complex, smooth on the taste but plays off the crunch of the potato (I was sure mashing them was best, but no, this works well) against the tang and suck of the mussels. Kids, please try this at home. And invite me round to supper. Please? I only have a giant bowlful left...