The flavour in this tomato broth is an exquisite accompaniment to the fresh, plump mussels. Cleaning and debearding aside, this recipe is all over in 5 minutes. Serve immediately with some well-buttered toast – it’s hard to go wrong.
Serves 2
75ml olive oil
1 kg whole mussels in shells, cleaned and debearded
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 small red chilli, finely chopped
100ml dry white wine
½ cup flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
200ml tomato sugo
2 thick slices sourdough bread
In a heavy-based saucepan heat oil and add mussels, garlic and chilli. Stir for 2 minutes, or until mussels begin to open, then add wine, tomato and parsley, seal pan with an airtight lid and cook for 2 – 3 minutes, or until mussels open fully. Discard any closed mussels.
Meanwhile toast sourdough bread until crunchy and dry.
When mussels have opened, serve with well-buttered toast.
Maurizio Terzini is one of Australia’s leading restaurateurs, with some of our best Italian restaurants (including Otto, Caffe e Cucina, Il Bacaro and Icebergs Dining Room and Bar) to his name. Something Italian is his collection of memories and recipes from these restaurants. The recipes are divided into Italian meals and rituals from calazione (breakfast), through spuntino (afternoon snack) to mezzanotte (late-night snack).