My version of a traditional Italian recipe, which I have prepared under the guidance of a native-born Sicilian. It seems that spaghetti with mussels is one of the most important dishes in Sicily, that’s way I had to include it here. During our stay in Sicily, we managed to create a short video-recipe, which hopefully, you will find useful. The following quantities are for 5 people.

Spaghetti with mussels

In order to prepare pasta with mussels you will need only a few ingredients and max. 30 minutes. Sweet cherry tomatoes, will ooze sauce while being cooked.

cherry tomatoes

Flavory garlic and finley chopped parsley, which will balance out sharpness of garlic.

parsley

Use fresh, not frozen mussels.

fresh mussels

It is easy to cook them: put them in the pan, cover with a lid and leave for 10 minutes. If you see the mussels opening up, it means that they are ready.

cooked mussels

Don’t try to open the mussels yourself. If they stay closed, you can throw them away. Cooking pasta is a piece of cake and the magic happens at the end: when you mix all the ingredients and let pasta soak with the aroma and taste of the sauce.

pasta sauce

Serve as quickly as possibile and enjoy eating :)

Spaghetti with mussels

Ingredients

  • 1 cup of water from mussels
  • 4 cloves of garlic
  • 1 pc of parsley
  • 16 12 oz. of cherry tomatoes
  • 4 lbs of mussels
  • 16 12 oz. of spaghetti pasta

Preparation

  1. Clean mussels and put them in a big pan. Leave them covered with a lid, on burning stove, for 15 minutes. Shake the pan from time to time. After 15 minutes , check if the mussels are opened- if so, it means they are ready.
  2. In the meantime, prepare the sauce: cut cherry tomatos in halves, peel garlic and press it, finley chop parsley.
  3. During cooking, mussels ooze water which is crucial for the sauce. Drain cooked mussels and leave the water, which contains the essence of mussels and enriches the sauce.
  4. Cook pasta according to the instructions on the packaging. 5.Heat up 3 spoons of olive oil on a big frying pan, add garlic, parsley and cherry tomatoes. Fry everything for about 10 minutes, for cherry tomatoes to ooze sauce .
  5. Take mussels out of shells and check if they are clean inside. Leave a few shells for decoration.
  6. Add around 100ml of mussle water to cherry tomatoes. Wait another 10 minutes. Next, add clean mussels and additional 100 ml of mussel water as well as pasta. Stir everything and let it braise for another 5 minutes
  7. Sprinkle it with parsley

Original content of the recipe from 1900

1 pound spaghetti cooked in the approved manner. When cooked and drained pour over it hot Clam Sauce and serve with or without grated Parmesan cheese.Read more »
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About the author:
Lena Gryszko

Cooking is my #1 passion. I love to collect cookbooks from different countries. Several times a year, together with my husband, we travel to discover new and unforgettable flavors. I can’t imagine my life without tasty and good quality food.

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