Serves 4 as a main course

Assembling the recipe:

Prepare the mussels by checking and taking out any dead mussels (see below), scrub off any barnacles and sand from the outside of the mussels and de beard them (also see below).

Get a pot large enough to hold all the mussels, or a large deepish sauce pan that has a lid. Over medium heat soften the garlic and shallots in the butter for about 5 minutes (they should not color). Add the garlic and saute for a moment more.

Add the wine, tomatoes and the bouquet garni and increase the heat As soon as it all comes up to the boil add the mussels all at ounce, place the lid on the pot and steam for 3 to 5 minutes. Give the pot a good shake half way through to insure they all cook evenly.

You will see when they are cooked as all the shells will have opened and you can hear them singing "By the sea - By the sea - By the beautiful sea"!

Remove the bouquet garni and add the chopped parsely stir well and remove from the heat

Serve in large bowls with some nice baguette or any good country style white bread toasted to soak up all that delicious broth. Don't forget a big bowl in the middle of the table for all those empty mussel shells.

Notes:

Don't be afraid of cooking mussels! There is no real mystery about them these days. They are almost all cultivated and the largest exporter of mussels globally is Belgium. If you follow the following 4 rules you should never have to worry about having a experience with bad mussels.

1. BUY FRESH! Purchase your mussels (and all shell fish), from your local fish provider. You can buy mussels these days in some supermarkets, if so buy them only on the day they come in. You really have no idea what some teenager has done to them because they were too busy thinking about last nights party, nursing a hangover and left them sitting on the loading dock a little too long.

2. STORAGE! If you need to you can keep them in the fridge overnight if they were fresh, after all your fish merchant will keep them almost a week on ice. Buy them bring them home and place them immediately into the fridge until you are ready to use them.

3. How to tell if they are alive is relatively straight forward. Before you clean them tap any open ones you find on the counter top or with the back of a metal spoon and watch for a reaction. They will close up to protect themselves. If they don't - throw them away.

4. How to tell if they are good after cooking. After you have cooked them look for the ones that haven't opened, they are the bad ones. You will away's find a couple so check the dish well and throw away any that haven't opened.

Personally I once had a really bad reaction to langoustine and lost half the skin on my body, (an alergic reaction - first time ever!). I had eaten them at a friends house and it was delicious. So my advice is only shop for shellfish at your local fish merchant for the freshest you can get. I had to wait a year before I could eat a lobster, worrying the whole year that I would never be able to eat shellfish again. What a horror!!!!! My friend still hasn't lived it down either.

Now the next is a bit controversial but I do it anyway. I soak the mussels submerged in ice cold water for an hour before I cook them. This helps them to remove any sand that they might have in them. Purists say that it ruins the finished dish as all the natural sea water has been removed from them but I think they have a wonderful taste of the sea naturally and I would hate a guest getting sand in their food. On the other hand most people think that I am just paranoid but you try shedding like a snake for a week and see if you don't soak your mussels! Try it both ways and see what you think.