In short. Mussels out of their shells, a quick tomato sauce with garlic and parsley, and spaghetti cooked in water that is deliberately under-salted. Fifteen minutes of cooking.
Mussels are farmed in the Mar Piccolo at Taranto, and they are one of the things this coast is genuinely known for. The recipe does as little to them as possible.
Ingredients
- 500 g of spaghetti
- 1 kg of mussels
- 500 g of peeled tomatoes
- 1 clove of garlic, parsley
- extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper
Method
1. The mussels. Wash them, open them and take them out of the shells — you can also open them in a pan over a low heat. Keep some of their liquid.
2. The sauce. Colour the garlic in oil with chopped parsley. Add the mussels and stir-fry briefly, then the peeled tomatoes, salt and pepper. Let it reduce over a low heat for about 15 minutes.
3. The pasta. Cook the spaghetti in water that is not very salty — the mussels bring their own — drain, and mix with the sauce.
Under-salt the water. This is the one instruction people skip, and it is the reason a home version comes out too salty. Mussel liquid is seawater: it concentrates as the sauce reduces.
More on the first courses page.
