How beautiful and delicious pasta with beans and mussels is! A typical Neapolitan dish.
A delight for the eyes and the palate! Easy to make and especially economical.
Pasta with beans, with its rustic and rounded flavor, blends with the saltiness of the mussels and thus meets the taste of the sea: the result is truly unique, with a stunning creaminess that is hard to put into words.
The savoriness of the mussels goes perfectly with the sweetness of the beans and together they create a truly explosive mix.
The recipe for pasta with beans and mussels is very simple; it can be made with already cooked beans, the ones from the supermarket, or starting from dried beans.
Those who know me know I prefer dried beans, but the canned ones are also fine, and I repeat, with the latter, cooking this delight is much quicker.
For this pasta with beans, use mixed pasta, a format born in Campania for soups from the union of leftover pasta in various packets: as always, great goodness comes from simple things!
Choose as you prefer. I recommend trying it, and for this, I’ll leave you the fork-proof recipe here!
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Economical
- Rest time: 2 Minutes
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Portions: 4
- Cooking methods: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All seasons
- Energy 306.61 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 28.51 (g) of which sugars 0.68 (g)
- Proteins 12.31 (g)
- Fat 16.54 (g) of which saturated 2.67 (g)of which unsaturated 1.60 (g)
- Fibers 1.92 (g)
- Sodium 661.97 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 200 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Ingredients for Pasta with Beans and Mussels
- 11 oz pasta (mixed or ditalini)
- 1 clove garlic
- mussels (3.3 lbs)
- to taste extra virgin olive oil
- 3 tbsps tomato puree
- 1 bunch parsley
- salt
- chili pepper (to taste)
- black pepper
Tools
- 2 Pots
Steps for Pasta with Beans and Mussels
If using canned beans, this step can be skipped.
For dried beans, proceed as follows.
First, soak the cannellini beans for at least 12 hours before starting preparation. Once the beans are softened, drain and boil them in plenty of water with rosemary.
(It’s convenient to soak them the night before; I always do it this way).
(If pressed for time, canned beans can be used by draining them of their water; in this case, use two cans). (If using canned beans, drain and rinse them very well).
(To save time, it’s fine to cook the cannellini beans in a pressure cooker).
(Be careful not to use steel ladles, as they can make them hard).
Set them aside and let’s clean the mussels.
First, rinse the mussels under running water.
Use a knife to scrape their surface to remove any encrustations or residues present, which would be unpleasant to find in the finished dish.
A little secret: I’ve always found this method effective.
Wash them under running water.
(Place some mussels in a plastic bag, add plenty of coarse salt, and close it. Insert the closed bag into another bag.
Rub the mussels inside the bag for about 5 minutes.
Open the bag, empty the mussels into a colander, and rinse under running water to remove residues).
Also, discard any broken or open ones as they are not good to eat.
Place the mussels in a pot, cover with a lid, and cook until the shells open.
Strain the mussel juice and set it aside; shell the seafood.
Put the oil in a pot with the chili pepper, sauté, then add the boiled beans, tomato puree, part of the chopped parsley, and let it all blend.
Then add about 3.5 cups of water and bring to a boil.
(Since I have the bean cooking water, I used that; you add water as described).
Once boiling, add the pasta and also the mussel cooking water.
Adjust the salt and cook; when the pasta is al dente, add the shelled mussels and the rest of the fresh chopped parsley, stir, and complete cooking.
Cover the pot and let it rest for about 2 minutes before serving.
Enjoy your meal.
Tips
Pasta with beans and mussels should be served not too soupy; however, depending on the type of pasta, more water might be needed.
A pasta with good cooking resistance is recommended.
In place of mixed pasta, you can use ditalini.
Storage
Your pasta with beans and mussels will be delicious when freshly made. But I’ll let you in on a secret: I like it even the next day, reheated in a pan!
However, I do not recommend freezing it.
If you enjoyed this recipe, click on many stars, thank you very much.
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