Finger bowls at the ready for a classy mussel recipe that packs a punch - serve with toasted baguette or sourdough. Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil and blanch the spinach for 30 seconds.

Keep mussels in a small serving pieces. 2. Remove other leaves of the lemongrass and finely slice the tender white part of the base of the stalk. Bruise with mortar and pestle. 3. Finely slice the ...

Heat a large thick bottomed pan, put in all the mussels, beer, onions and garlic. Gently stir the lemon juice and parsley.

On each slice, place 2-3 mussels, a piparra and a lemon slice. Finish with a squeeze of lemon juice, drizzle of mussel oil from the can and black pepper.

Do this just before cooking; mussels die when debearded. Recipe from Dishing up Maine by Brooke Dojny/Storey Publishing, 2011.