Spaghetti with Mussels (Spaghetti con le cozze)

I thought that cooking mussels would be very difficult but I discovered that it’s very easy. All you need to do is to make sure to buy good quality mussels. A lot of grocery stores now offer organic mussels as they are already scrubbed and cleaned for you. Just make sure to rinse well before cooking them.  It’s also very important to note that you don’t need to add water to cook the mussels. After you rinse the mussels and put them in a pot to cook, they release their own water and that’s where all the flavor is.

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup cherry tomatoes, diced
  • 1 tomato on the vine, diced
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 2 lb. mussels, rinsed and scrubbed
  • 2 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 lb. spaghetti
  • 1/3 cup chopped Italian parsley
  • Salt to taste
  • Black Pepper to taste

Preparation:

In a wide skillet or saucepan combine minced garlic and olive oil. Let it cook until the garlic becomes a yellow color. Be careful to not burn the garlic. Then add parsley, diced tomatoes, salt and pepper. Cook for about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, rinse and clean the mussels. You don’t need to scrub the mussels, just make sure to buy mussels which have been previously cleaned and scrubbed. Then place them in a large pot, cover and cook until they open up. Do not add any water as the mussels will release their own liquid. Remove from the stove and let them cool.

Then with a strainer drain the mussels and keep the liquid. Add the liquid to the tomato sauce. Remove the mussels from the shells (keep a few mussels in their shells to use later to decorate your dish).

Now bring a large pot of water to boil to cook the spaghetti. Add salt when the water is boiling.

In the meantime, add the mussels to the tomato sauce. Cook for an additional 5 min–careful to not overcook.

Add spaghetti to the boiling water and check the cooking time on the pasta box. Cook spaghetti for a few minutes. Then drain the pasta and add it to the tomato and mussels sauce. Cook everything together until spaghetti is al dente.

Once spaghetti is al dente, remove from the stove, add the remaining parsley and serve right away! Place the reserved mussels with the shells for decoration on top of the dish.

Buon appetito!

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