I love Italian food, and this recipe is one of my favourites. Our restaurant, La Côte, is located by the sea in Wexford, and we specialise in seafood. I take my love for seafood home as well and cook a lot of fresh fish.
Pasta with mussels is a simple, easy dish, and perfect for a summer evening at home, with a nice glass of white wine.
Try to get fresh, meaty mussels, as the quality of the shellfish is really all there is to this dish.
Make sure you clean the mussels properly. If you don’t know how to do it, just ask your fishmonger. You want to make sure there is no grit, and cleaning them is really as simple as leaving them to soak in water for 15 to 20 minutes.
Paul Hynes is chef-owner of La Côte seafood restaurant, in Wexford
LINGUINE MUSSELS
Serves four
Ingredients
500g mussels
400g linguine
200ml white wine
3 tbsp butter
5g parsley, chopped
3 tbsp olive oil
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 large carrot, peeled and diced
200ml tomato sauce, fresh or bought (passata)
1 large spring onion, finely chopped
Method
1 Rinse the mussels and remove the beards (the bits that cling to the outer shell).
2 Discard any that do not fully close when rinsing (these are dead).
3 Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil (make sure you can taste the salt in the water).
4 Cook the linguine al dente in the salt water.
5 Meanwhile, heat the oil and butter in a large saucepan (with a lid) on medium-high heat.
6 Fry off half the spring onion, half the garlic and the diced carrots and place on the side
7 Cook the remainder of the garlic and spring onions until fragrant, for about one minute
8 Add the mussels to the pan. Add the wine and cover with the lid.
9 Steam the mussels until the shells are fully open, generally five minutes.
10 Remove the mussels from the pan and put the juice to one side. Remove the mussels from their shells and discard the shells.
11 Add the tomato sauce to the pan with the carrots and garlic, then add the mussels and their juice. Bring to boil (this will only take a couple of minutes).
12 When the linguine is cooked, strain it and stir into the sauce. Serve topped with parsley.
Kitchen Cabinet is a series of recipes from chefs who are members of Euro-Toques Ireland, who have come together during the coronavirus outbreak to share some of the easy, tasty things that they like to cook and eat at home #ChefsAtHome
