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1
Preheat the oven to 180C/gas 4.
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2
Heat the oil and butter in a pan and gently cook the onion for 2-3 minutes until soft.
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3
Add the garlic, carrot, and all the spices and cook for a further 2 minutes.
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4
Stir in the mussels, breadcrumbs, egg, almonds and lemon juice. Season to taste with the salt.
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5
Pour into 6 large ramekins or 1 large oven-proof baking dish and place the bay leaves in the centre.
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6
To make the topping; whisk together all the topping ingredients and pour over the mussel mixture.
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7
Cook for about 12 minutes for individual ramekins or 30 minutes for the large dish, until firm and golden.
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8
To make the pumpkin fritters; place the dry ingredients in a food processor, add the eggs and process to form a thick batter. The batter should hold it's shape, if too thick add a little milk, if too wet, add a little more flour.
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9
Heat the oil in a non-stick frying pan. Drop heaped tablespoons of the batter into the pan and fry till firm and golden. Flip over and fry on the other side.
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10
Serve warm sprinkled with a little cinnamon sugar if you like.
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11
To make the relish; place the tomatoes on a hot barbecue or griddle pan and cook until the skins are charred.
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12
Remove from the heat and cut into dice.
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13
Mix the tomatoes with the onion, thyme, oil and vinegar and season with salt and pepper.
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14
Serve mussels with the pumpkin fritters, charred tomato relish and rice too, if you like!
