Potatoes, mussels, and rice is one of the quintessential typical dishes from the tradition of my beautiful city, BARI. There is no family that doesn’t prepare the TIELLA. Some add zucchini, but this is a tradition specific to each family. It’s a first course, but in restaurants in Puglia, it is also served as an appetizer, the aromas of the combined ingredients are intoxicating. It’s not very easy to prepare because everything is put in raw and without measuring the ingredients (by eye), so you need some experience in preparing it. But by following the recipe step by step, you’ll succeed. I still remember when I made this dish for some friends from Palermo, they liked it so much that they still make it today. Another particularity is that we people from Bari don’t open the mussels over the fire, but raw with the mussel-opening knife (the grambetta). It’s not very easy to do, but it can be tried. Now I’ll leave you with the original recipe without garlic from our tiella!!
- Difficulty: Medium
- Cost: Cheap
- Preparation time: 1 Hour
- Portions: 4
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients
- 2.2 lbs mussels
- 1 cup rice
- 1 onion
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes
- 14 oz potatoes
- parsley as needed
- olive oil as needed
- grated Parmesan cheese as needed
- salt
- pepper
Tools
Baking dish 11 x 8 inches
- Knife
- Baking dish
- Mandoline
Steps
First, you need to clean the mussels by removing the byssus, then to clean the shell part, a very simple method is to put the mussels in a plastic bag with coarse salt and rub them for a few minutes. The mussels will be clean and ready to be used with the shells.
When you have finished rubbing them, rinse them to remove the salt.
Then with the mussel-opening knife, open the mussels to half-shell, saving the water that will come out.
Prepare all the ingredients. Put the rice with water and a bit of salt (keep it aside when you remove the rice). Slice the potatoes not too thick, a maximum of 1/8 inch, this way they will cook evenly.
Thinly slice the onion, chop the parsley, and cut the cherry tomatoes into quarters.
In the baking dish, pour oil (generously) to cover the entire base, then onion, parsley, cherry tomatoes, Parmesan, salt (sparingly, better if used with a dispenser and not with fingers), and pepper.
Cover with a layer of potato slices, side by side.
Then arrange a layer of mussels on top of the potatoes, also side by side.
Now add the rice that you have soaked in water as if you were adding cheese; it should cover all the mussels.
At this point, start again with all the ingredients: Parmesan, oil, onion, cherry tomatoes, parsley, salt, and pepper. Then cover with another layer of potatoes.
To finish, on top of the potatoes, add more Parmesan, parsley, cherry tomatoes, oil, salt, and pepper. Take the mussel water that you set aside, strain it, and add it between the spaces, while adding the water where the rice was soaked from the edges, reaching the level of the potatoes, you should not cover the potatoes with water.
This is the level you need to reach with the water (see the red arrow in the photo).
You are ready to bake in a preheated oven at 392°F (200°C) fan-forced for about 1 hour.
To ensure the dish is cooked, taste the rice from one side and pierce the potatoes with a fork to see if they are soft.
Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly before serving. Enjoy your meal
Storage
You can prepare potatoes, mussels, and rice the day before to enjoy the next day. It will be even more delicious. If you have leftovers, you can store them in the refrigerator for 2 days.
Notes
If you really can’t open the mussels raw, you can let them open in a pan, always saving their water.
