I am fortunate by design to live on an island where fresh seafood is abundant and safe to harvest, a short walk through the paddock to the beach takes me to a wild mussel bed where I can collect the largest and most delicious mussels I have ever found. The mussel bed is only accessible when there is a very low tide, which is probably why they are so large, the bay is full of different types of shell fish including oysters and it is a good fishing spot.

I love to collect my own food just before I cook it as the flavour is superior, after the mussels have been collected a quick detour to the vegetable garden to collect a few other fresh ingredients to make my dinner. The vegetables and herbs all have to be grown in a fenced off netted area as the local wildlife love to eat my fresh food before I can collect it myself. Not to be greedy, the orchard is available to all the birds and possums in the area and if a few of the 200 odd fruit trees in the orchard are not individually netted then the mountain parrots will knock off the entire crop before it is even ripe.

Mussels are a rich source of vitamin B12, Selenium, folate and Zinc

It is not generally recommended to collect shell fish today as the marine environment they grow in may be polluted and render them unsafe for consumption. Unless you are absolutely certain that it is safe to collect your own seafood, it is best to purchase molluscs from a reputable fishmonger.

The recipe for the mussel dish in the picture is on the Recipe page of this blog as well as this post

Recipe for Mussels Kilpatrick

Ingredients:

• 1 Kilo fresh mussels
• 1 small bunch of chives
• 1 medium size ripe tomato
• 2 table spoon dijion mustard (un-seeded)
• 2 rashers of lean free range organic bacon or ham
• half a cup of freshly grated parmesan cheese
• a few sprigs of parsley
• 1 bunch of fresh rocket

Method:

• Take a medium size mixing bowl and place the following ingredients in it.
• bacon or ham cut into small slivers, tomato and chives finely chopped.
• Mix the mustard, bacon, tomato and herbs together and set aside.
• Fill a large heavy based saucepan with cold water and set on stove top to boil
• White the water is coming to the boil, thoroughly wash the mussels in fresh water.
• When the water has boiled add a few mussels to the water till the sells open, remove from water and continue until all of the mussels have been processed .
• Remove from their shells, retaining 1 half of each set of shells to cook the meat in.
• Make sure the shells are clean and place 1 piece of mussel meat in each shell.
• Spoon a small amount of the mustard mixture onto of each of the mussels.
• Top with parmesan cheese
• Grill until the cheese is golden brown.

Serving suggestions:

For a main meal plate 12 of the mussels, top with parsley and a wedge of lemon, with a side dish of rocket salad with fresh gluten and lactose free fodmap friendly flat bread.