Spagetti con le cozze (Spagetti and mussels)

July 21, 2013 by soberandhungry Leave a comment

Today we are in a seafood frenzy! The weather may be cooling down (sniff) but we are determined to continue to eat fresh, light, summery foods that remind us of our summer holidays! “Oh I do like to be beside the seaaaaside” and on that musical note, here is what we had on the menu today.

Our aperitivo was the cocktail of the month – Spritz accompanied by le tartine. Today’s selection included sliced rustic baguette topped with salmon, lemon and parslay, a soft cheese and chive spread and warm smoked mackerel with tarter sauce. Our main was Spagetti con le cozze. You can get mussels from most large supermarkets. We need to be honest, they are farmed and have never frequented the seaside (a small amount of imagine can ignore that) but they are usually fresh and very tasty.  To complete the meal we had a fresh fruit salad. YUM.

Here is how we made the main course:

Ingredients:

• A net of mussels
• Half a glass of white wine
• 220g spagetti (for a big man and a normal girl!)
• 2 cloves of garlic
• ½ dry chilli
• 1 ripe tomato medium
• 3 tblspoon extra virgin olive oil
• Parsley and basil
• Black pepper, white pepper and salt

 Directions:

1. Rinse and clean the mussels well and then drain properly
2. Place a pot on a hot hob and add the mussels and the white wine (no oil)
3. Cook for 3-4 mins until they open – if any do not open throw them away
4. Remove from the heat as shell 90 % of the mussels saving the rest for decoration – also save some of the cooking juice in a cup
5. Using the same pot bring salted water to the boil and cook the spagetti (3 minutes less than the suggested time)
6. Get a pan on a medium heat with oil and fry the garlic and chilli for 3 minutes so that they start to release the flavor without the garlic turning brown
7. Add all the mussels and fry over a high heat for a minute
8. Add finely chopped tomato
9. Season with salt and black pepper
10. Add some of the saved cooking juice to create a nice sauce (use judgment of how much)
11. Cook for 3 mins
12. Remove from the heat
13. When the pasta is ready drain well
14. Put sauce back on hob and mix in the pasta
15. Add white pepper, parsley and basil and fry for one minute
16. Serve straight away!

Open the mussels in white wine

le tartine

The sauce

Add pasta to the sauce

Enjoy

S&H 

Advertisements