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Shellfish and Leek Roly-poly
Shellfish and Leek Roly-poly is a traditional English recipe (originating in Cornwall) for a classic dish of shellfish and leeks in a suet crust that's steamed in a roasting tin. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic English version of: Shellfish and Leek Roly-poly.
prep time
20 minutes
cook time
10 minutes
Total Time:
30 minutes
Serves:
4
Rating: 
Tags : Spice RecipesBaking RecipesBritish Recipes
A roly-poly is made from a suet crust. Typically, today, these contain sweet fruit fillings, but during Victorian times they were produced as both sweet and savoury versions. This recipe is a modern twist, from Cornwall, on the traditional Victorian oyster pudding. During Victorian times, oysters were very cheap (this significantly resulted in their over-fishing). In fact, because they could be transported in barrels of brine and were far less perishable than any other form of seafood. This recipe takes the basic idea of the oyster pudding, but makes it from a mix of shellfish and bulks it out with leeks. This is excellent with the mix of shellfish suggested here, but you can make this with just mussels if you want (about 50 large mussels would be right).
Ingredients:
For the Crust:
300g self-raising flour
150g shredded suet
pinch of salt
For the Filling:
20 large mussels
10 oysters
10 scallops
100g shallots (or red onion), very finely chopped
2 leeks, washed, trimmed and thinly sliced into rings
2 rashers rindless streaky bacon, finely diced
3 tbsp parsley, minced
2 tbsp dulse seaweed (soak in water if dried), finely chopped (optional)
salt and freshly-ground black pepper, to taste
For the Sauce:
60g unsalted butter, diced
90ml single cream
chopped parsley
Method:
Shuck the oysters and scallops. Strain and reserve the liquor.
Heat a large pan over high heat. Tap the mussels, and if they do not lose discard them. Add the mussels to the pan, cover with a lid and cook, shaking the pan, for about 20 seconds, or until the mussels open. Extract the mussel meats (there is no need to discard any that do not open, they are not bad [actually this just means they are really fresh] it's just hard to get at their meats) and set aside to cool. Drain the pan and strain the mussel liquid into a small pan then mix in the reserved oyster and scallop liquor.
Now form the crust. Sift together the flour and salt into a bowl. Stir in the suet then add just enough cold water to bring the ingredients together as a soft dough. Turn this dough onto a lightly-floured work surface and roll out to a rectangle about 1cm thick.
Quarter the oyster and scallop meats and mix with the mussel meats. In a bowl, mix together the shallots, leeks, bacon and parsley and season with salt and black pepper (add only a little salt, the bacon is salty, but add lots of pepper). Spread this mixture over the pastry, leaving a clear margin of about 2cm on three sides (the margin-less side should be one of the long sides). Scatter the shellfish meats evenly over the top then brush the pastry margins with water or egg-wash.
Roll the pastry up from the margin-less side (so that this side is in the middle) then pinch the edges sealed. Butter a large sheet of kitchen foil then carefully sit the roly-poly in the centre of the aluminium sheet. Bring the edges of the foil together and crimp to form a loose parcel around the roly-poly (allow plenty of room for the pastry to expand).
Set a rack on a deep self-basting roasting tin (ie one with a lid) and carefully sit the roly-poly on top. Pour in boiling water to come 1/3 of the way up the roaster. Place on the hob, bring to a boil, cover with a lid and steam for 2 hours. During this time, top up the liquid level with more boiling water as needed so the roaster does not become dry.
After this time, open the foil parcel and pour any juices within into the pan with the shellfish liquor. Transfer the roly-poly to an oven pre-heated to 190ºC (380ºF) and bake for about 10 minutes, or until the roly-poly is nicely coloured.
In the meantime, prepare the sauce. Place the pan with the shellfish liquor on the hob and bring to a boil. Cook to reduce slightly, then whisk in the butter until melted. Mix in the cream and allow to heat through (but do not boil). Take off the heat and add parsley and freshly-ground black pepper, to taste. Season the sauce a little more strongly than you normally would, as the roly-poly is quite mildly flavoured.
Slice the roly-poly and serve accompanied by the sauce.
