1 large skillet or sauce pan for making the sauce and finishing the pasta
Ingredients
3lbsmusselscleaned, rinsed and beards removed
14ozgrape or cherry tomatoessliced in half (lengthwise)
3clovesfresh garlic⅔ minced, rest whole
2handfulsflat leaf Italian parsley½ chopped, ½ minced
½fresh red chili pepperor to taste
¼cupdry white winePinot Grigio for instance
7tbspolive oilor, as needed
fine saltto taste
11ozspaghetti
Instructions
Prepare the Mussels
Discard any mussels that are already open or have visible cracks. They are not safe to eat.Use a paring knife to scrape any loose dirt or barnacles off of the mussels. Rinse the outside of the mussels.
3 lbs mussels
Remove the ‘beard’ from the mussels—the hairy looking tail that sticks out of the shell. To remove the beard: Hold each mussel narrow side up. Grab the beard and pull down and away from the narrow side of the mussel until it pops off.
Steam the Mussels
Cover the bottom of a large pan or skillet with olive oil. Bring the skillet to medium heat. Add ½ the parsley (roughly chopped) and one whole clove of garlic.
Sauté the garlic and herbs in the oil for about a minute. Then add the mussels and white wine to the skillet.
¼ cup dry white wine
Cover and steam the mussels over medium heat until most of the shells have opened. This usually takes just a few minutes.
Discard any mussels that have not opened. Save a few steamed mussels for decoration. Remove the mussel meat from the rest of the shells and transfer them to a bowl.
Strain the broth that the mussels have produced while steaming. Add that broth to the mussel meat to prevent the mussels from drying out. Set the mussels aside.
Prepare the Pasta Sauce
Slice all of the grape tomatoes into quarters. Mince another handful of parsley with 2 cloves of garlic.
14 oz grape or cherry tomatoes
Cover the bottom of a large pan or skillet with olive oil. Bring the skillet to medium heat. Add the chili pepper, the minced garlic and the minced parsley to the hot oil.
½ fresh red chili pepper
After about 10 seconds, add the tomatoes as well. Give everything a stir. Then add 2 ladles of the mussel broth that you’ve saved.
Cover and cook the sauce over medium-low heat for about 5 minutes. Then add all of the mussel meat and another ladle of mussel broth. Continue to cook the sauce uncovered.In the meantime…
Cook the Pasta
Add the spaghetti to boiling water and cook it for HALF of the time recommended on the package for al dente pasta. Do not salt the pasta water!
11 oz spaghetti
Finish the Pasta
Remove the chili pepper from the sauce and discard it.
Add the partially-cooked spaghetti to the skillet with the sauce along with 2 more ladles of hot pasta water. Mix to combine.Finish cooking the spaghetti in the sauce over medium heat until the pasta is cooked to al dente.
The sauce should thicken naturally from the starch coming from the spaghetti and hot pasta water.
At the end of the cooking time, add the mussels that you’ve saved for decoration back into the pasta to reheat them. Salt to taste (you may not need it).Top the finished pasta with a sprinkle of fresh minced parsley and serve!
fine salt
Buon Appetito!
Video
Notes
Salt the pasta water? No way!Don’t salt the pasta water! Seafood broth is naturally very salty. After the pasta is finished cooking, add salt to taste if needed.