This recipe is something I learned way back in the day. The great thing about cooking is usually that it's sooo damn simple, but complicated by cookbooks written for people who haven't got the basic skills to navigate their way around a kitchen. If you are one of those people who can't even make heads or tails of the Edmonds, then read on.
Often shellfish are cooked in fancy-schmancy deals designed to impart a world of flavour and colour, but let's face it, your humble mollusc deserves better than that. This recipe is written for mussels, but you can really use anything in there, just make sure that if it's something like cockles or tuatua that you sit then in a bucket of water overnight to spit out their sand.
And don't cook oysters.
One time, a bunch of us were at Piha for a camping trip, and noticing that the sea was eerily still, two of us got snorkelling gear together and took a bunch of the best green-lipped mussels off the rocks. Fear of algae kept the rest of the crew away, but the two of us barbequed them and ate like kings. So, if you want to cook mussels simply, just read the bit about removing the beards, then whack them up on a hot grill.
Otherwise, read on.
You can buy mussels from the supermarket if you can't collect your own, they're usually in that big tray thingo with the water spraying over them. What you need to know is that these things are alive, and should stay that way. When you're picking your mussels, don't buy any that have the shells open already. If the shells are open they've already carked it, and might poison you.
Natasha's Garlic Mussels
You'll need only three things, a dessert spoon, a wooden spoon for stirring, and a big pot with a lid.
The ingredients are equally simple.
A many mussels as you think you want.
Crushed garlic
2 or 3 dessert spoons of butter.
Salt and pepper.
First of all you need to clean the mussels. Wash the outside of them in the sink to make sure there's no sand or grit, them remove the beards.
This is actually the only tricky part. Each mussel will have a little brown 'hairy' tuff poking out of the shell, near the hinge. You have to kind of grip this, and pull up and away from the shell. The beard will come away with a little bit of whitish flesh attached. You then chuck away both.
Once you've cleaned the all mussels you're good to go. You can clean them hours before they're cooked and just leave them in the fridge if you have to.
To begin cooking, melt the butter in the pot, which should be big enough to hold all the mussels at once, then add any amount of garlic you want. Let your own taste be the guide. If you really like garlic then go nuts, but if you don't, no worries.
Before the butter gets burnt or too hot, chuck in all the mussels, and cover for about two or three minutes. But check to make sure the temperate on the element isn't too hot or you'll burn the butter.
Next, what should be happening is that the mussels are steaming open. You put the lid on to make sure the shells are heating up, and it kills the animal inside. Then, when they open, they dump a little water into the pot, so after the two minutes you take the lid off to partially dry the whole thing out.
Once you take the lid off, and the pot is steaming slightly, put in a little salt and pepper, however much you like. Stir the garlic and butter through to mix it with the mussel juice, and get it all over them. Once they open they'll cook in no time, and you can tell when they're done by looking at them, or sampling one or two. They shouldn't be too 'slimy' when you eat them, but if they are a little underdone, it's no drama, and not dangerous.
If you see that all the mussels have opened, or at least most all of them (some stay shy), then you're ready to serve. Just tip a share of the mussels onto two plates, and serve the lot with heaps of crusty French bread and butter.
To eat them, to grab the shell and fish the mussel out with a fork. A little messy, but fun all the same.