Aotearoa mussels

Vic Williams | 6th February 2010

Cheap, plentiful and easy to buy live in the shell, mussels really are the ultimate Kiwi shellfish.

In this week's recipe we toss them, whole, through cooked pasta. If you think that would make them too fiddly to eat, simply remove them from the shells before combining with the spaghetti.

Use as many mussels as you like. We have suggested 12 or 20, which would give three or five per person (we prefer odd numbers), but the dish is entirely flexible.

4 small handfuls dried spaghetti (around 240g)
12 or 20 mussels, live in the shell, lightly scrubbed
quarter cup each white wine & water
half small onion, cut into chunks
1 tsp whole black peppercorns
3-4 stalks flatleaf parsley
sea salt, if necessary
cracked or fresh-ground black pepper
2 tsps butter

Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil. Add spaghetti and cook for 30 seconds less than the time stated on the packet. Drain and reserve. While the pasta cooks, place the mussels in a pan with the wine, water, onion, peppercorns and parsley stalks, reserving the leaves. Cover and steam for 30 seconds or so, then  remove mussels with a slotted spoon as they open.

Place in a bowl. As soon as they're cool enough to handle, squeeze the shells together and pull out  the seaweedy "beard".

Reduce cooking liquid slightly if need be, then strain and return to the pan, discarding solids.

Roughly chop parsley leaves. Add spaghetti to the pan and toss with the parsley,  salt  (taste the liquid first) and pepper. Add the butter, stir just until it begins to melt then toss the mussels and any residual liquid through.

Spoon into warmed bowls or one communal bowl for serving.

Serves 4 as entree or light supper

Wine match

If you're enjoying this dish outside on a warm evening, a Belgian-style beer would work well with it but, in our house, we prefer wine. Sauvignon blanc is a classic match for shellfish, but our farmed mussels boast robust flavours that are far better suited to a savoury, spice-edged chardonnay. Sold mainly at specialist wine stores, Couper's Shed Hawkes Bay Chardonnay 2009 has a pleasant amount of spicy oak on the nose and a
creamy flavour that sits nicely with the pasta. It's good value at around $22-$24.

The similarly priced Esk Valley Hawkes Bay Chardonnay 2009, from the talented Gordon Russell, is a nicely balanced wine with gentle, savoury oak aromas and a buttery, citrus-edged flavour.

Considerably more expensive at around $33-$35, but also bigger and more assertive, Church Road Reserve Chardonnay 2007 has spice-edged, grilled peach aromas and loads of rich, mouth-filling flavours to match those upfront mussels.