The mussels I like best come in their shells, still living. They are sold in little plastic nets or sold loose by the pint or quart. This evening, I cooked about a kilo of them to feed three people.

The preparation for this recipe can take ten minutes or so, as you inspect the mussels, throwing away any which are cracked or are not closed or don't close when you press them together. Pull out the little 'beards' which may be hanging off them and give them a good rinse under a tap in a colander. Scrub the shells if they are dirty. Rinse again in clean water. You can't rinse too much.

Put the mussels into a large pot which has a lid. This is what you are going to steam them in. I steam them in either beer or wine. This evening we had some left over white wine, so I had mussels in wine. Into the wine, you can put any number of additives depending on how continental/oriental/inventive you feel. The cooking is actually the easy part and comes last.

Today I was feeling a bit Thai. I began the cooking process by making a sauce to dip the mussels in and to mix with the plain boiled rice I was going to serve with them. The sauce was made up of a couple of table-spoons full of finely chopped coriander leaves, the juice of one and a half limes, a dessert spoon of fish sauce, three finely chopped large crushed cloves of garlic and some very hot finely chopped chili. These ingredients are put in a bowl and allowed to steep while the rice is put on and the mussels are steamed.

To steam the mussels, I put a handful of dried kaffir lime leaves (which are far less inferior than the purveyors of the fresh ones would have you believe in a recipe like this), the roots and bottom (non-leafy) halves of the sprigs of coriander, a sliced stick of lemon grass, and a tea-spoonful of holy basil and chili paste. (The latter is usually used to make grapow, but I have found it a useful ingredient to add to all sorts of things). The mussels also got a dessert-spoon of fish sauce. These ingredients were swished around the mussels, the lid put on, the heat turned on. The mussels are then cooked until they have opened, which is surprisingly quickly: a couple of minutes.

In my household the pan of mussels is taken, as is, onto the table, and the mussels fished out using chopsticks, the meaty bit removed and dipped in the sourly piquant sauce and accompanied by the rice, which will also have a teaspoonful of the sauce poured on top and mixed in. The use of chopsticks, by the way was banned by Chulalongkorn V for most Thai cooking, but this is one dish where they come in very handy.

When feeling grand and serving this to guests, the mussels go into a serving dish and the wine liquor in the pan is reduced, with a small knob of butter added to give it a nice sheen before being poured back over the mussels and served, garnished with fresh coriander. When eating en famille, I haven't the patience, despite the speed and ease at which this dish can be put on the table.

Live Mussels are in season now.