Mussels and jamon with sherry

One thing here in Spain you get fresh seafood almost every ware you look and one of my favourites is mussels. This dish has the flavour of the local ham as well.

You will need,
1kg/2¼lb mussels
2 tbsp olive oil
half onion, finely chopped
2 thick or 5 thin slices jamon or prosciutto, diced
100ml/3½fl oz dry white wine
3 tbsp sherry
A good hand full of fresh chopped parsley

Scrub the mussels well, then yank out the little beards and discard them, make sure that you have no dead ones and then wash them under a tap to make sure you wash away any of the stuff you have scraped off away.

Now get a big saucepan with a lid that fits and get that on the heat. Add the oil and cook your onions. Once they are soft, add the ham and the white wine, and let this get up to the boil. Now add the mussels and then cover with the lid.

The mussels will cook in the steam from the win and create salty ham flavoured liquor in the bottom of the pan. Once all the mussels have cooked, fish them out with a slotted spoon and leave as much of the liquor in the bottom of the pan. Throw away any mussels that have not opened.

Now return the liqueur back to the heat turn it up as high as you can and reduce the liquor down. Add the sherry and finish with the parsley then pure the liquor all over the mussels.

Then serve with some crusty bread and there you have it.