Barese Tiella is a specialty from Bari made with ingredients from the area, and also typical in other Apulian cuisines, like the renowned Taranto mussels.
▶▶Barese Tiella is indeed popular with local variations in Salento, where it is called tajeddha or, more simply, “rice, potatoes, and mussels,” with the same ingredients often cooked in an earthenware dish (locally called tajeddha).
▶It is a combination of land and sea elements, arranged in layers in large baking dishes called “tielle,” and strictly inserted raw to be subsequently baked.
▶Key ingredients are rice, mussels, and potatoes, but equally important are cherry tomatoes, pecorino cheese, garlic, parsley, and extra virgin olive oil.
▶TIP! Let it rest for a couple of hours before consuming.
Do not confuse it with another “tiella” from Lazio’s gastronomy:
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Medium
- Rest time: 2 Hours
- Preparation time: 20 Minutes
- Portions: 2 servings
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All seasons
Ingredients
- 2.2 lbs mussels (with shell)
- 1/2 clove garlic
- 1 cup Arborio rice
- 15 cherry tomatoes
- 1.3 lbs potatoes
- to taste pecorino romano
- to taste salt and pepper
- to taste extra virgin olive oil
Tools
- 1 Baking dish earthenware
Steps
Open the mussels, cleaned, in a pan and do not throw away the liquid.
In one (or two) earthenware baking dish, start with the base by spreading it with extra virgin olive oil, then add 3 halved cherry tomatoes (or chopped peeled tomatoes), add garlic, parsley, pepper, pecorino.
Add the mussels with the shell down, the rice to cover the holes, the thinly sliced potatoes, the remaining cherry tomatoes, more pecorino, and parsley.
Drizzle with the filtered cooking liquid from the mussels, adjust salt, add about 1.7 cups of water from the edge of the earthenware dish, drizzle with oil and bake at 482°F for the first 20 minutes and at 428°F for the remaining 40 minutes.
Let rest for 2 hours before serving.
