Spaghetti alle cozze (spaghetti with mussels)

It is summer and definitively seaside time. I live now 600 km far away from nearest sea coast, and I really miss a nice walk on the beach. Therefore I tried to push away this “sea-sickness” (so to say) by cooking a nice recipe that I want to share with you. The trick for a good result of this dish is the pan. You need a large aluminum pan to sautee the spaghetti. When I mean large, consider that I have one measuring around 40 cm in diameter!

For 4 persons:

1 kg of mussels (fresh = alive)
450 g of Spaghetti (good quality pasta, i.e. De Cecco)
1 clove garlic
1 chilly pepper
1 handful of parsley
Extra virgin olive oil
1 glass of white wine.

To start with clean the mussels. With a knife scrape off all the “scale” that is attached to the shell and pull the rope that they have on one side in order to remove it. You should end up with perfect black shells!

In the pan place the chopped garlic and chilly in plenty of extra virgin olive oil and fry a few minutes (be careful that it does not burn!). Add the mussels, decrease the heat to medium power and cover. Let it cook this way for 5-10 min stirring continuously with a wooden spoon. You should see the shells opening and on the bottom the juices should be released. I don’t know where you are, but in Italy the mussels have been pre-purged prior to commercialization. If this is not your case (and you have just realized this) a sand layer will be covering the bottom of your pan. Don’t dispair! Once ready, remove all the shells in the pan and set aside. Filter the juices in order to remove all the sand. Prepare another chopped garlic and chilly, stir fry and then add the juices. The result will be the same. In case the sand is not hunting you, set aside the shells. In the meanwhile cook the spaghetti in plenty of salted water (be careful as the mussels will be very tasty, so put less salt than usual). Reduce the juices at high heat and add the glass of red wine. Make the wine vapourize and then put the spaghetti cooked “al dente”. Sautee for a few minutes adding finely chopped parsley and extra virgin olive oil to your taste. Put in the dishes and add on top the mussels prior to serving. Serve the dish with a small side dish for the shells. It is delicious!!!!

Tagliatelle, Pappardelle, etc. Make your own pasta

Although not proper Tuscan, fresh hand-made pasta is thoroughly available in Tuscan restaurants. I am lucky. My grandma comes from Emilia region, the homeland of fresh pasta and I had an excellent teacher. I do not have much time, but I love making pasta for guests. It tastes differently, it is fun and it is not that effort at the end. The recipe is 1 egg every 100 g of flour. That’s it. So for 4 people make at least 6 eggs and 600 g of flour. My grandma adds also one spoon of extravirgin olive oil. I usually do but do not really know whenever it is fundamental! Have flour available as you need during the process! I will describe you first the proper way of doing and the way I do. Probably not orthodox, but definitively time saving! In both cases you need clean hands, a wooden top surface, plenty of flour (in addition to the recipe one) and a noodle machine.

Proper way

Put the flour on the wooden surface making a mountain like shape. Create a volcano by making a crater in the middle of that. Put one after the other the eggs in the volcano (open of course) and then with a fork beat the eggs by scraping some flour from the walls of the volcano but being careful not to create an opening as the egg lava will start to flow like hell and will make your kitchen look a little messy. If you do it properly you will get a dough of soft consistency that you have to further work with the flour in order to get it very hard. This process can be very energetic as the dough will get harder and harder. Be aware that when the dough is too soft it will be very difficult for you to handle your pasta afterwards, as it will stick to everything. Do not try to make the dough too smooth. A trick is to leave it for one hour in the fridge and it will get better and better.

My way.

Take a food processor and put the flour and the eggs in it. For a 2L container, make slots of 300g and 3 eggs. Switch on at the maximum speed until you have a brittle mixture. Pour in a wooden surface and work into a dough. It will be very easy and the results will be perfect!


In both cases leave the dough for 1h minimum in the fridge in a metal or ceramic container covered with a dish Make sure that the dough is not loose in the container, so that the latter just fits right. I do not know why it should be like that, my grandma said. One thing that you have to be careful about is that the dough does not dry out. It has to be always moist. In Florence the air is humid, so this is not a big issue. But here in Switzerland it can be a race against time to make your tagliatelle.

The noodle machine:

Don’t be scared, it does not bite. Follow the instructions and firmly fix it at the table. Make sure that you have plenty of flour and clean kitchen towels around you to go through the pasta production. Get familiar with the rolling sizes

Cut a bit of dough (around the size of a mobile phone) and roll it at the thicker size. Fold it and pass it again. Repeat this step until you have a smooth dough. Once this is done pass it at a thinner size until you reach the thinnest. You do not have to go through one measure at the time, just make a couple of steps from the thickest to the thinner. If it gets too long cut in two and process one at the time. When ready place the rolled dough on a kitchen towel and leave it to dry out a bit.

If the dough was properly done, you will not have problems in these steps. If it is too dry it will get brittle and it will separate during the rolling. Work it again with a bit of water and leave it to rest for 10 min before trying again. If it is too soft (wet) then it sticks everywhere. Once you have rolled it, smear plenty of flour on both sides before going to the next step.

Your noodle machine will have a tagliatelle cutting tool. Use it to create your own tagliatelle.

Cook your tagliatelle in plenty of salted hot water and… enjoy with your favourite sauce.

The recipe for the ragu (i.e. Bolognese sauce) will follow.