Blanch a few hand fulls of spinach in salted water for a minute or so drain and stop the cooking process by rinsing with cold water and leave to cool.
In a large saucepan, big enough to hold all your mussels, melt a knob of butter and gently fry a finely chopped shallot and stick of celery.
When softened increase the heat and add the mussels- when the pan starts to sizzle add half a glass of white wine and a small shot of pastis, (traditionally its dry sherry and pastis, but white wine is fine - if you do not have pastis add a few more tarragon leaves to the sauce later in the recipe to add the extra aniseed flavour), cook for a minute and give the pan a shake, after another 30 seconds or so, when the mussels are fully open, remove from the heat and drain over a bowl, reserving the cooking liquor.
Squeeze all the liquid out of the spinach and place in a blender with the cooking liquor, finely chopped parsley leaves, a few sprigs of tarragon (leaves only) and few drops of tabasco and blitz.
The mussels should now be cool enough to handle so remove the empty half shells and return to a pan - pour in the sauce and gently reheat and serve.
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