Zuppa di Cozze

Mussels are one of those ingredients that for some reason seem to intimidate people, and yet they are really simple to work with and as long as you follow a few simple rules, you are always guaranteed of an amazing dish.  Mussels are also relatively inexpensive, relative to other seafood, and they have a wonderful taste of the ocean, not fishy, but ozoney – imagine a walk on the beach in the morning.

The rules are simple, always buy fresh mussels, any good fishmonger will get them in a few times a week, find out what days this happens on and plan your meal around when the freshest mussels arrive.  Whilst frozen mussels are easier to find avoid avoid them, as the freezing damages their delicate meat leaving them powdery, also avoid preblanched mussels as a lot of the flavour lies in the steaming process and you want all those precious juices.  Choose recipes that are simple to allow the mussels natural flavour to be the star of the show.  When it comes to cleaning them this can de a tedious process, but if you are getting them from a good fishmonger ask them to handle the cleaning for you, all you need to ask is that the mussels are cleaned and debearded.

Zuppa di Cozze

Recipe by Paul MacielCuisine: ItalianDifficulty: Easy
Servings

4

servings
Prep time

10

minutes
Cooking time

30

minutes

Mussels are one of those ingredients that for some reason seem to intimidate people, and yet they are really simple to work with and as long as you follow a few simple rules, you are always guaranteed of an amazing dish.  Mussels are also relatively inexpensive, relative to other seafood, and they have a wonderful taste of the ocean, not fishy, but ozoney - imagine a walk on the beach in the morning.
The rules are simple, always buy fresh mussels, any good fishmonger will get them in a few times a week, find out what days this happens on and plan your meal around when the freshest mussels arrive.  Whilst frozen mussels are easier to find avoid avoid them, as the freezing damages their delicate meat leaving them powdery, also avoid preblanched mussels as a lot of the flavour lies in the steaming process and you want all those precious juices.  Choose recipes that are simple to allow the mussels natural flavour to be the star of the show.  When it comes to cleaning them this can de a tedious process, but if you are getting them from a good fishmonger ask them to handle the cleaning for you, all you need to ask is that the mussels are cleaned and debearded.

Ingredients

  • 3 tbsp olive oil

  • 1 medium onion, chopped

  • 2 stalks of celery, chopped

  • 3-4 cloves of garlic, minced

  • Salt & Pepper to taste

  • 1/2 cup white wine

  • 1 can of whole peeled tomatoes

  • 1,5 kg mussels, cleaned and debearded (Note 1 & 2)

  • 1/4 cup chopped fresh flat leaf parsley

  • 1 cup water

Directions

  • Heat the oil in a large saucepan, with a tight fitting (Note 3) lid, and gently fry the onion, celery and garlic until translucent and fragrant.
  • Remove the tomatoes from the can and chop them, then add to the pan along with some salt and pepper and cook 5-10 minutes or until the sauce begins to thicken.
  • Now add the wine and cook an additional 10 minutes, adding water, as needed, if the sauce becomes too thick.
  • Add the cleaned, drained mussels, cover, and cook until the shells open, which should be about 5 minutes.
  • Once all the mussels are open add the parsley just before serving.
  • Serve the mussels with some good quality sour dough bread lightly toasted, this is the perfect accompaniment for mopping up those precious juices.

Notes

  • Note 1:  Ask your fishmonger to handle this step for you, it makes the process much simpler
  • Note 2:  Allow between 400g & 500g mussels, in shell, per person for a main course and about 200g per person for a starter portion
  • Note 3:  The mussels will steam once you add them, so you need to have a lid that will trap the steam in the pan, if the pot/pan you choose doesn’t have a lid prepare a piece of tinfoil to cover them with tightly once you add them.
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