MUSSELS STRAIGHT UP

serves 6

What You Need

2 kilos of green-lipped mussels
6 tablespoons of olive oil
1 large onion, chopped fine
1 cup of dry white wine
3 cloves of garlic, slivered
A small handful of arami seaweed – soak for an hour or two then drain (optional)
1" of fresh ginger, finely shredded
The zest of 1 lemon, finely shredded
Spiky sea salt and coarse-ground black pepper
2 red capsicums, chopped in medium pieces (you can also use chili peppers if you want it hotter, but I find too much heat obscures the delicious flavor of the mussels themselves)
A small bunch of fresh basil, chopped
A small bunch of fresh broad-leaved parsley, chopped
2 green chilies, chopped fine

Here’s How

Scrub the outer shells of the mussels with a stiff brush in cold water and pull out the beards that stick to the sides. Throw away any mussels with broken shells and any that remain open when you are handling them. They are not only not for human consumption – I would not even let my cats have them. Now in a large pot heat the olive oil and gently fry the onion and garlic for 5 minutes, stirring regularly. Add the wine, ginger, arami, zest of lemon and seasoning and bring to a boil. Toss in the mussels and cover tightly, steaming them for no more than two or three minutes – just long enough for the shells to pop open. Discard any that have remained shut after cooking. Now add the fresh chopped basil, parsley, capsicum and green chili and the lemon zest, tucking it into the open shells with your fingers to garnish the mussels. The contrast between the vibrant colors of these garnishes and the rich, sea-earth shades of the mussels is one of the great pleasures of making this dish. Serve immediately in the sauce. And don’t forget to drink the sauce. It is not only delicious, it is rich in minerals – great for hair and nails, not to mention hormones. Sometimes – especially on summer afternoons – I drain off the sauce and serve the mussels themselves garnished on glass dishes with the sauce on the side – much as the Japanese serve miso soup in a little covered wooden bowl to drink with the mussels.

Mussels are my favorite shellfish. But I am ultra-fussy about where they come from and how fresh they are. The best in the world are New Zealand green-lipped mussels from the sea. They are not only highly nutritious, they are also some of the biggest. With their beautiful blue-green shells, these sea gems, harvested from unpolluted waters, are not only a highly nutritious form of protein, they are rich in vitamins and trace minerals as well as an excellent source of mucopolysaccharides and the free-radical scavenging enzyme superoxide dismutase. Extracts of the green-lipped mussel have been used successfully to treat many inflammatory diseases from rheumatoid and osteoarthritis to eczema, and emphysema. Recently they have even taken their place in the growing arsenal of cancer treatments. You can buy green-lipped mussels in many countries of the world. But this recipe works perfectly well with any good clean mussels. Whatever mussels you buy make sure they come from unpolluted waters and are alive. If you think they are likely to be sandy then soak them overnight in a bucket of water to which you have added a couple of tablespoons of corn flour. The mussels will feed on the corn flour and in return expel any sand they have collected.