Pasta with Sicilian style mussels recipe
Share this recipe on FacebookA delicious pasta dish using fresh mussels, steamed in white wine and herbs and then cooked with olive oil, garlic, capers and black olives. This dish is extremely easy and fast to prepare, provided you have prepared the mussels.
Preparation time: 10 minutes, Cooking time: 10 minutes, Serves: 2
Ingredients
For steaming the mussels
2 lb fresh mussels, scrubbed and debearded
1/2 cup dry white wine
2 sprigs of fresh thyme (or 1 tsp dried thyme)
1 bay leaf
2 sprigs parsley
Black pepper
For the sauce
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 Tbsp small capers (in brine)
4 black olives, sliced or chopped
1/3 cup (or even a bit more) mussel broth (from steaming the mussels)
1 Tbsp unsalted butter
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (or to taste)
Spaghetti or linguini for 2 (about 1/2 lb)
Grated Parmesan cheese
Directions
To prepare the mussels, if not already prepared, wash them in cold water, scrub them and pull the beard off. Rinse them again under cold water.
To steam the mussels
In a cooking pot add the mussels the white wine, the thyme and parsley, the bay leaf and freshly ground black pepper. Sit the cooking pot over high heat and when the wine comes to a boil, set the heat to low, cover and steam for 10 minutes.
After 10 minutes, turn the heat off, uncover and move the mussels into another bowl. Remove the mussel meat from the shells and discard the latter. You can leave a few mussels in the shell for decoration. Note: Discard any mussels that have not opened.
Pass the mussel and wine broth through a fine sift, into a bowl, and save it for later.
Start cooking the pasta in lots of boiling and salted water, al dente. While the pasta is cooking prepare the sauce.
To make the sauce
In a saucepan over medium to high heat add the olive oil and heat. Add the garlic, capers and olives and saute for 1 to 2 minutes. Take care not to burn the garlic. Add the mussel broth, the butter and the mussels and bring to a boil. Add the parsley and red pepper flakes and stir well.
When the pasta is ready, drain and serve in individual plates. Pour over the sauce, drizzle with some extra olive oil and serve with freshly grated Parmesan cheese.
This dish is great when served with freshly made garlic bread.
Notes and tips
This dish should not need any extra salt, because of the saltiness of the mussels, the
capers and the black olives. You can still taste it and adjust with extra salt to your
liking.
Step 1
Put the mussels in a cooking pot. The mussels must be prepared before (scrubbed and debearded).
Step 2
Add the thyme (Fresh thyme is better - if you do not have fresh thyme, you can use dried thyme instead)
Step 3
Add the parsley and bay leaf
Step 4
Add some black pepper, pour in the white wine and set the heat on, to high.
Step 5
Wait for 1 or 2 minutes until the wine comes to a boil.
Step 6
Cover the mussels, lower the heat and steam for 10 minutes. When done, take out the mussels and sift the broth and set aside.
Step 7
Start making the sauce by sauteing the garlic, capers and olives in the olive oil.
Step 8
Add the mussel broth, the butter and the mussels and cook for 1 to 2 minutes.
Step 9
Add the red pepper flakes and season with extra black pepper, if you like.
Step 10
Finally add the chopped parsley and stir to blend all ingredients evenly.
Step 11
Serve the mussels with freshly cooked pasta (al dente) and grate some Parmesan cheese on top.
Note that this sauce is not thick like other sauces (such as tomato based sauces) but it is full of flavor. Use a spoon to serve the mussels first and then pour the remaining sauce over the pasta.
