Garlic White Wine Spaghetti With Mussels Recipe

Spaghetti and mussels in a garlic white wine sauce is a classic seafood pasta dish that can be enjoyed in all seasons, but with the new year approaching, it's an even better bet since mussels taste better toward the end of the year. After growing and feeding all summer, mussels are mature, plump, sweet, and creamy in the fall and winter. Switch this information for the Southern Hemisphere, where winter is from June through August. Whatever the technical reason, this dish is delicious, and it's not just because of the mussels themselves. Garlic plus white wine is a simple combination that dials up the flavor without being complicated to make.

Recipe developer Michelle Bottalico has created a recipe for a mussel spaghetti that features garlic, white wine, and herbs. While you can make a richer version with butter and other ingredients such as lemon juice and broth, it's not necessary for a tasty dish, and the flavor of the mussels shines through better without too many extras. While mussel pasta is often made with just parsley, Bottalico took inspiration from a recipe from the Central Italian region of Le Marche that calls for basil, mint, sage, and oregano as well as parsley, a delicious mix of herbs she has recreated here. You can use more of those herbs for a less subtle flavor, or just parsley if desired. Keep this recipe in mind when planning your holiday dinners or any time you're in the mood for a simply delicious seafood meal.

For this recipe, you will need 2 pounds of fresh, live mussels. You will also need spaghetti, extra virgin olive oil, garlic, and dry white wine. The herbs needed are parsley, basil, oregano, mint, and sage, all fresh. Finally, salt is an optional ingredient you can use to taste if desired, since the mussels themselves (having grown in seawater) add a salty taste to the dish, as does the spaghetti cooked in generously salted water. (And even if you're not making seafood pasta, your pasta water probably needs way more salt than you thought.)

Clean, de-beard, and rinse the mussels. Discard any mussels that are open and do not close when tapped.

Bring a large pot of generously-salted water to a boil.

Cook the spaghetti for 2 minutes less than al dente according to the package directions.

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large heavy-bottomed skillet on medium.

Add the garlic and saute it for 2-3 minutes until fragrant.

Pour in the wine and let it bubble at a rapid simmer for a minute to evaporate the alcohol.

Add the mussels, stir, cover, and steam until the mussels open and cook, about 5-7 minutes.

Transfer the mussels to a dish, leaving the liquid from the mussels in the pan.

Scoop out 1 cup of pasta cooking water and set it aside before draining the spaghetti and placing it in the pan with the mussel liquid.

Add the reserved cooking water to the pan and toss the spaghetti with the sauce. Let it finish cooking for 2 more minutes in the liquid, tossing occasionally.

Return the mussels to the pan and add the herbs. Toss briefly until evenly combined and heated through. Salt to taste if desired.

Serve immediately.

• Lemon Garlic Green Beans Recipe
• Garlic Parmesan Roasted Asparagus Recipe
• Easy Garlic and Herb Breadsticks Recipe
• Easy Homemade Foccaccia Recipe
• 3-Ingredient Heirloom Tomato Salad Recipe

First of all, recipe developer Bottalico notes that you can make this dish without the white wine, since the wine is optional and often omitted in the Italian dish spaghetti con le cozze in bianco, or mussel spaghetti in a plain white sauce made with garlic, extra virgin olive oil, and parsley. To take it in the other direction, you can make a richer, extra creamy version with added ingredients. Heat up butter along with the olive oil before sauteing the garlic. Add shallots with the garlic for more flavor and red pepper flakes for heat if desired. Then after you add the wine, add broth and lemon juice as well. You probably won't need to add pasta cooking water to the sauce if you follow this method since there will be extra liquid this way, but it's always a good idea to set a little cooking water aside just in case.

Mussel spaghetti is often made with tomato. After the mussels steam and partially cook in the pot with olive oil and garlic (and optional wine), add chopped cherry tomatoes and herbs and let the mussels cook the rest of the way. If you use tomato puree, you can remove the mussels from the pot (leaving the liquid) while you cook the tomato sauce longer. Another way to customize the dish is to use a mix of seafood. For example, you could add clams, shrimp, or scallops.

We love mussel pasta, but you don't have to make pasta to enjoy a delicious mussel dish. You can cook them in a similar white or red sauce, but serve them with crusty bread instead of pasta. Make a little extra sauce so you'll have plenty of delicious liquidy goodness to soak up with your bread. A different option is to make mussels au gratin. Clean and steam the mussels until they're cooked and open, and then rinse them. Remove one shell and place the mussels on the half shell on a baking sheet. Mix up breadcrumbs, garlic, parsley, salt, pepper, olive oil, and other ingredients like herbs or capers if desired. Spoon it over the mussels in the shell and bake until they're browned.

To make fried mussels, open the mussel shells with a knife and extract the raw mussels. Dip them in flour, then egg, and then breadcrumbs, and then fry them in oil. Add salt before serving them hot. Mussel fritters involve adding steamed, shelled mussels to a batter of flour, egg, water, and salt and cooking large spoonfuls of the mussel batter in oil until golden.

Mussels are also tasty in soups (try one with carrots, onion, celery, potato, curry powder, and herbs), served with rice, or cooked in a risotto. Finally, cooked cold mussels are good served in rice salads or bean salads with ingredients such as olives, onion, capers, tomatoes, chick peas, and herbs.

• Creamy Garlic Mussels Recipe
• Coconut Curry Mussels Recipe
• Zuppa di Pesce (Itlian Fish and Tomato Stew) Recipe
• White Wine Sauteed Mushrooms Recipe
• Garlic Butter Shrimp Recipe