During the summer season, when the sea offers us its tastiest and freshest fruits, it’s possible to serve very exquisite dishes like spaghetti with clams, pasta and beans with mussels, or this dish of pasta with potato cream and mussels.
This last recipe, with a creamy consistency, combines the saltiness of the mussels with the sweetness of the potatoes, creating an irresistible balance.
The preparation is very simple but not exactly fast unless you have perfectly cleaned mussels. However, I prefer to take care of this task myself to ensure I have perfectly cleaned mussels. In any case, by timing the various preparations correctly, you can serve a great dish in a relatively short time.
Needless to say, for the success of the dish, it’s essential that the mussels are very fresh, and another important thing is the right amount of potato cream to use, which should make the dish velvety without weighing it down.
Now take a minute to read the recipe and then… let’s cook and eat!!
See also
- Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients
- 11 oz pasta
- 2.2 lbs mussels
- 2 potatoes (medium size)
- 2 cloves garlic
- to taste parsley (fresh)
- to taste extra virgin olive oil
- to taste salt
- to taste fresh chili pepper
- to taste black pepper (ground)
Tools
- 1 Bowl
- 1 Frying Pan
- 1 Strainer
- 1 Pot
- 1 Knife
- 1 Lid
- 1 Saucepan
- 1 Hand Blender
- 1 Slotted Spoon
Steps
To optimize the preparation time for pasta with potato cream and mussels, the first thing I recommend is to start boiling the potatoes.
Meanwhile, attend to cleaning the mussels.
Wash them thoroughly under running water, then remove the beard that protrudes from each mussel and scrape off any encrustations from the shell (with a knife or a steel wool) until they are completely clean and shiny. Rinse again.
In a frying pan, sauté a garlic clove and some fresh parsley stalks in a base of extra virgin olive oil. When the garlic begins to sizzle, add the mussels to the pan and cover with a lid.
As they open, remove the mussels from the pan and shell them into a bowl, then filter the water they released during cooking. You may want to keep some mussels with the shell for the final decoration of the dish (I prefer not to).
With part of the filtered cooking water, cover the shelled mussels so they don’t dry out and keep the remaining part aside.
Meanwhile, the potatoes will be cooked; let them cool slightly, then peel them and place them in the hand blender’s container, along with a pinch of salt, a grind of black pepper, and fresh parsley leaves. To achieve the right creaminess, help yourself by adding a bit of the mussels’ cooking water.
While the pasta is cooking, prepare a new sauté in the same pan you used to open the mussels, with oil, garlic, parsley, and this time, also fresh chili pepper.
Let the mussels flavor inside, adding a bit of the water you set aside.
When the pasta is cooked al dente, remove it with a slotted spoon and transfer it to the pan, then add the potato cream and toss. Use some of the mussels’ water to achieve the right creaminess.
Now all that’s left is to plate it and enjoy this dish that smells of the sea and tastes of happiness… especially if accompanied by a good white wine 😉.
