‘Mpepata
This is one of those instinctual dishes that sprang up from using what’s on hand: it’s more a theme than a recipe, but the reference to ‘pepata’ reveals that it should have a kick. Regarding the cooking time, a mussel is cooked when it opens: every second after that is overcooking.
Fresh mussels.
Garlic
White wine
Parsley, or fresh herbs, such as mint and basle.
Red pepper
Oil
Bread
Clean the mussels thoroughly, scraping the shells with the BACK of a heavy knife. Mussels are cheap so discard any that you are questionable about, for any reason: cracked, open, funky, etc. Remove beards, which kills the mussel, and so time is now is now ticking.
In a pot big enough for all the mussels, add a glog of oil, the garlic, and sauté until it starts to make some noise, but before it takes on any colour. Dump in the drained mussels, and a generous amount of red pepper. Add a half a cup of white wine per portion of mussels, and stir constantly, careful to pull the open ones to the top of the pot, while pushing the unopened to the bottom. If you are using mussels from the Mediterranean, DO NOT add salt, as the sea is already so salty, and thus, so is the liquor from the mussels. Add the parsley, stir well and ladle into heated bowls. Remember to provide large bowls for the dead soldiers but also to implore guests that eating like a Viking is not only acceptable but preferred.
Variant.
Toast good-quality bread and place a slice in the bottle of the bowls before ladling on the mussels and broth. In either case, good quality bread is needed to mop, soak and dunk.
This is really a master recipe. You could vary the flavour-agents and take the dish in a thousand ways. Cream and curry. Hard cider and leek. Beer and caraway seeds. Vermouth and butter. Any place in the world that eats mussels has some variation of this dish. Do it once and you’ll never consult the recipe again.
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