Roughly chop 200gr of the onions and 25gr of the garlic. Add half the olive oil to a deep pan and heat till hot. Add the onions and half of the basil leaves and sauté until soft. Add the remaining garlic to the pan and continue to cook for a 2 more minutes before adding in 1/2 of the white wine. Leave the wine to reduce by ¾, then add the in the polpa and bring the sauce to boiling point to remove the acid from the tomatoes. Remove off the meat and blend the sauce to a pure.

Continue the recipe by cooking the mussels. Heat the remaining olive oil in another deep pan and fry the onions and chillies together for a few minutes until soft. Add the mussels, white clams, basil and garlic to the pan and cook together for further 5 minutes, by which time the white wine should have reduced by half. Next, add in the prepared tomato sauce, squeezed in the lemon juice and season well with salt and pepper. Cover the pan with a lid, turn down the heat and continue to cook for 10 to 15 minutes or until the mussels have all opened up. Meanwhile, slice the baguette and lay out the sliced on an oven tray. Drizzle lightly with olive oil and season well. Put the tray in the oven heated to160`c and cook the bread slices till golden brown. Serve the mussels in warm, deep bowls topped with the toasted bread slices and cracked black pepper corns.