When you talk about orecchiette, you immediately think of turnip greens, but this pasta also goes perfectly with fish and shellfish. Today at Diego’s, my trusted fish shop, I found some very fresh mussels and immediately thought of cooking Orecchiette with Eggplant and Mussels. A truly delicious dish made with high-quality ingredients.
Other recipes
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Economical
- Preparation time: 40 Minutes
- Portions: 3 People
- Cooking methods: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All seasons
Ingredients
- 10.5 oz orecchiette (fresh)
- 4.4 lbs mussels
- 1 eggplant
- 2 cloves fresh garlic
- 2.7 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 fresh chili pepper
- A few sprigs parsley
Tools
- Kitchen Scale
- Frying Pan
- Cutting Board
- Mezzaluna
- Pot
Steps
Wash the eggplant and cut it into cubes. Put it in a pan with half the oil, a chopped garlic clove, and salt. Sauté over high heat, and when it is nicely golden, turn off the heat. Soak the mussels, clean them from encrustations and threads, and leave them for half an hour in cold clean water with a handful of coarse salt. After this operation, put them in a pot with a little parsley, and as soon as they open, remove them from the heat.
Shell the mussels and chop half of them with the mezzaluna. In a pot with the remaining oil, put a minced parsley, a clove of garlic in its skin, all the mussels, and the eggplant. Sauté the seasoning, remove the garlic, and keep warm. If you like, you can add some chili pepper. Taste to check if salt is needed.
Bring the water to a boil, salt it, and pour in the orecchiette. Once cooked, drain them and pour them into the seasoning. Mix and serve the Orecchiette with eggplant and mussels garnished with chopped parsley and, if you like, a bit of Pecorino Romano.
Tips
If the eggplant is firm and seedless, you do not need to purge it of its vegetative liquid.
