Today, fileja with mussels and beans. A recipe from the Calabrian tradition that combines ingredients in an unusual yet delicious way. You can prepare the mussels and beans sauce on the spot in a pot, or you can make mussels and beans in jar cooking many days in advance. What are fileja? It is a pasta made from semolina and water, where each piece is rolled around a metal rod or, preferably, a “dinaculu,” a straw stick. Also known as maccheroni, the fileja are perfect for rich sauces. Starting from ‘nduja sauce to Calabrian ragù, or even a simple tomato sauce enriched with pecorino flakes, and unconventional pairings like fileja with beans and mussels or fileja with lamb stew.
- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Very inexpensive
- Preparation time: 20 Minutes
- Portions: 4
- Cooking methods: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All seasons
- Energy 641.50 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 82.47 (g) of which sugars 5.66 (g)
- Proteins 33.09 (g)
- Fat 21.66 (g) of which saturated 3.98 (g)of which unsaturated 4.99 (g)
- Fibers 8.82 (g)
- Sodium 1,557.08 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 250 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
- 11 oz fileja
- 14 oz mussels (only the mollusks)
- 14 oz canned borlotti beans (or cannellini (drained weight))
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 chili pepper
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 2/3 cups peeled tomatoes
- 2 bunches parsley
- salt
- 2 pinches pepper
What you need
- 1 Pot
- 1 Casserole with lid
- 1 Colander
Pasta with Mussels and Beans Recipe
Peel and chop the garlic cloves, distribute them in the casserole and add the oil and chopped chili pepper. Sauté over low heat, then add the peeled and crushed tomatoes, a pinch of salt, and pepper. Stir and let it simmer, then add the mussels and beans, stir again, bring to a boil over high heat. Then, lower the heat, cover, and cook for 15 minutes.
Bring water to a boil in a large pot, as soon as it boils, add a level tablespoon of coarse salt and toss in the maccheroni. Boil for one minute less than indicated on the package, then drain the fileja. Meanwhile, wash and chop the parsley.
Combine the fileja with the mussel and bean sauce, toss the pasta with the sauce, finish cooking, garnish with chopped parsley, and serve the fileja piping hot.
Open the jars in the microwave as per instructions, drain the pasta, put it back in the pot, and add the mussels and beans in jar cooking sauce, stir and toss. Serve the fileja piping hot.
Rosella Errante’s Tips
Besides fileja, you can also use Tuscan pici or smooth paccheri for this recipe.
