STEAMED LIVE MUSSELS WITH LEEKS AND CARROTS 
-2 Servings

They say, "Never eat live seafood if there is no "R" in the month".  This works from September to April in the Northern Hemisphere but is useless 
downunder where I would advise not to eat fresh seafood anywhere where the outside temperature is more than 20c unless it is straight from the 
sea to the pan.

There are many fancy ways of cooking mussels but the Belgians serve the best and simplest in my view so here is a simple recipe for connoisseurs

Ingredients:

*1kg        Live mussels
*225 ml    	Wine - Good dry white
*30 gr      Garlic - chopped (2-3 cloves)
  4 sprigs  Thyme - fresh
*2          Bay leaves
  55 gr     Leeks - sliced (1/2 a leek)
  55 gr     Carrots - sliced (1/2 a large carrot)
  115 gr    Butter (approx 1/4lb)
*1/2 tsp   	Black pepper

Garnish:
1 tbsp     	Parsley - freshley chopped

Method:

1.  Remove all packaging, rinse mussels in cold running water, remove any 'beards' and silt or dirt
2.  Empty mussels into a large saucepan
3.  Add all other ingredients immediately
4.  Cover the pan and bring to boil on high heat
5.  After 5 mins all mussels should be open. Any that are not MUST be DISCARDED
6.  Remove mussels and arrange in two large soup bowls
7.  Cook the liquid without lid and reduce by half
8.  Pour this sauce over the mussels
9.  Garnish with the chopped parsley and serve

Variations - Ingredients:
The items marked * above are essential and at least a chopped onion should be used if no leeks to hand
Some cook with water but this is definitely not advisable
Personally, I have a bottle of good dry white wine to hand and use generously until all ingredients just covered
I can't get excited about the butter and use only a thick slice myself

Variations - Serving:
I serve the whole pan on a heat protective mat with two empty soup plates and a large bowl for the empty shells
As the Belgians do, I also serve a good cooled larger
Crisp pommes frites (with mayonnaise on the side) never goes amiss in Belgium.