I’ve written about this terrific recipe before, and it was described by Sarah Dickerman in the New York Times in 2006

Unfortunately the picture was snapped before I added some of the extraordinary juices from the bottom of the pot, so the bivalves look a little high and dry here.

• two pounds of scrubbed mussels purchased from Blue Moon Fish from  in the Union Square Greenmarket, combined in a large heavy enameled pot with two cups of a variety of halved heirloom cherry tomatoes from Berried Treasures, half a cup of a good white wine, a few tablespoons of chopped shallots form Phillips Farm, three tablespoons of butter, a good amount of freshly-ground black pepper, and some coarsely-chopped lovage from Mountain Sweet Berry Farm, everything steamed over high heat for a few minutes, then served with thick slices of Trucio from Sullivan Street Bakery (a superb rustic sourdough bread with a dark crust)
• the wine was a New Zealand white, Oyster Bay Sauvignon Blanc, 2013, from Marlborough