Smoked Mussels with Toasted Almonds, Fennel, and Periwinkles Recipe

Servings: 2
Prep time: 45 minutes

Ingredients
a small bundle of sticks, wood chips, branches etc. (make sure its not treated lumber, obvi)
pan of water (to soak sticks)
4 dozen mussels, cleaned and de-bearded
2 sticks of unsalted butter
10 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
1 bulb of fennel, thinly sliced
1 cup of dry white wine
two handfuls periwinkles (optional)
salt and pepper to taste
handful of almonds
4 large handfuls oyster leaf (can be replaced with picked parsley, or any other fresh herb)

Directions

Editor's Note: Mussels are a sandy situation, especially when you're dealing with wild ones. They spit out sand like angry, foul-mouthed sailors. In order to ensure that you don't feast on crunchy bits, here's some quick tips you can steal and pretend that you invented on your own:

Mussels are living creatures. Make sure to immediately unwrap them at home so they can breathe in the refrigerator until you're ready to cook them.

Discard any that are visibly chipped, broken, or damaged in any way. If it's open, it's a stinker. Throw it out. You want your mussels to have the sociability of puritans at a key party: they should appear tightly closed and kept away in a cool area where they can breathe until you're ready to kill (cook) them.

Just before cooking, soak them in cold, fresh water for about 20 minutes. As the mussels breathe, they filter water and expel sand.

Mussels have a hipster "beard," also known as byssal threads. This might be sexy, but no one wants to eat a beard. This thing is made of many fibers which emerge from the mussel's shell. You'll want to pull these off right before you're ready to cook them; once the beards are off, they don't live for very long.

To remove the beard, hold the mussel in one hand, cover the other hand with a dry towel, and grasp the beard; give it a sharp yank toward the hinge end of the mussel. This method will not kill the mussel. If you were to pull the beard out towards the opening end of the mussel you can tear the mussel, killing it. Discard the byssal threads. Congrats—you just gave it the shave it needed.

Remove the mussels from the water. Don't pour the mussels and water into a strainer because the sand has sunk to the bottom of the bowl; you'd end up pouring the sand back on top of the mussels. Put the mussels in another bowl of clean, cold water. Take a deep breath—you're almost there.

Use a firm brush to brush off any additional sand, barnacles, or other oceanic attachments. Rinse the mussels under cool tap water, and set aside. Dry with a towel before cooking. Thank them for existing and then respectfully cook them.

1. Light a charcoal fire or preheat your gas grill to high. Soak your sticks in a pan of water for at least 30 minutes. Pull them from the water and place them in a loosely fitted tin foil 'envelope'. Put them directly on the coals or gas burners of your grill. When you smell the wood smoke, you are good to go. If mussels are large enough you can place them directly on the grates of your grill. If not, a pizza pan comes in handy.

2. Meanwhile, melt two sticks of butter in a medium-sized saucepan over medium-high heat. Add slivered garlic and fennel and cook until softened. Add the wine and periwinkles. Cook until wine has reduced a bit, 8 minutes or so.

3. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Toss in almonds. Next, add the smoked mussels to the saucepan to coat in the sauce.

4. Plate on a large platter or bowl to serve family style. With the last drops of sauce in the pan, toss the oyster leaf or herbs in to coat and then use to garnish the mussels.

From The Dinner Bell: Mussel Hunting in Nova Scotia