Cocklers Soup

Put the cockles into a large bowl of cold salted water (about 30 g salt per litre) and leave them for at least 20 minutes. This encourages them to purge any remaining sand. Drain and rinse them twice under cold running water, discarding any with cracked shells or any that remain open and do not close when tapped sharply on the worktop.

Set a large wide saucepan or lidded sauté pan over a high heat until very hot. Add the cockles and pour in the cider. Clamp the lid on immediately. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes, shaking the pan once halfway through. Remove from the heat. The cockles should be fully open. Discard any that have not opened. Do not overcook them at this stage , they will go into the soup again later and a second round of heat will toughen them.

Tip the cockles into a colander set over a large bowl to catch every drop of the steaming liquor. Allow the liquor to settle for 2 minutes so any grit sinks to the bottom, then carefully pour it through a fine sieve lined with a piece of clean muslin or a double layer of kitchen paper, leaving the last few millilitres behind in the bowl. You should have around 300 to 350 ml of liquor. Set it aside.

When the cockles are cool enough to handle, pick the meat from the shells. Reserve a small handful of shells for presentation if you like, giving them a quick rinse. The cockle meat will be small, slightly grey-edged, and firm. Set the meat aside in a small bowl, covered.

Rinse out the saucepan and return it to a medium-low heat. Melt the butter until it foams but does not colour. Add the leek, celery, garlic, and parsley stalks. Season lightly with salt and a pinch of white pepper. Sweat gently, stirring every couple of minutes, for about 8 minutes until the leek has fully softened and collapsed. It should look glossy and smell sweet, not sharp.

Scatter over the plain flour and stir it through the vegetables for 1 minute to cook out the raw flour taste. Pour in the reserved cockle liquor gradually, stirring as you go to prevent lumps. Add the diced potato and the bay leaf. Pour in the milk. Bring to a gentle simmer, cover partially, and cook for 12 to 15 minutes until the potato is just tender when pierced with a small knife but still holding its shape. Do not let it boil hard or the potato will break down into the broth.

Stir in the double cream and bring the soup back to a very gentle simmer over a low heat. Taste carefully before adding any more salt , the cockle liquor carries a good deal of natural salinity and the soup may need none at all. Add white pepper to taste. Remove the bay leaf.

Add the cockle meat to the soup and stir gently. Give them no more than 90 seconds in the hot liquid. They just need to warm through. Any longer and they will become rubbery. Remove the pan from the heat immediately.

Ladle into warmed bowls. Scatter the chopped parsley leaves over each portion. If you kept back a few shells, tuck two or three into each bowl at the edge. Serve at once with brown soda bread.