Ingredients
- About 2 kilos of mussels. Don't be alarmed, it's mostly shell. I used Green Lip mussels, but other kinds will work just as well. If you are using frozen, defrost them first. Fresh or frozen mussels will both need to be rinsed, debearded and maybe scrubbed a little bit to remove any seaweed looking stuff.
- Olive oil
- 1 onion, finely chopped.
- About 3 green onions, finely chopped.
- 1 clove of garlic, minced.
- 1 small chili, finely chopped
- About half a glass of white wine (optional)
- 1 packet of spaghetti or linguine pasta
Method
- Put the pasta on to cook in a pot of boiling salted water.
- In a different pot, saute the onion, green onion, garlic and chili if using, in a glug of olive oil until soft. Do not brown.
- Add the tinned tomatoes, and wine. Simmer over low heat for a few minutes to bring the flavours together.
- When the pasta is almost ready (about now) add the mussels. Keep the lid on, keep the heat low, and shake the pot every so often. After a few minutes, take the lid off and check to see if the mussels have opened their shells* - this means they are ready to eat! Give it all a good stir then you are ready to serve!
- to serve, drain the pasta and plate into bowls. Top with a generous serve of mussels and sauce.
When I serve this I always place a large empty bowl on the table for people to throw their empty shells into. It can get a bit messy so make sure there are plenty of napkins, and maybe some nice bread to soak up the sauce.
Enjoy!
xx
* If you are using fresh mussels and a few haven't opened their shells, it's probably wise not to eat them (just the unopened ones) as they may be off. I find this isn't such a big deal with frozen ones, as they are wont be alive after freezing anyway, and are highly likely to have been frozen so soon after harvesting that the chance of getting food poisoning is almost zero. Don't be put off by this! I've been eating mussels for decades and have never once been ill from them.