This is a very quick and simple recipe for pasta with Cozze (mussels). Utilising a good amount of garlic, ripe tomatoes and fresh mussels, this is one of the easiest pasta dishes to prepare.

You can serve this dish with any spaghetti, or tagliatelli pasta. We have used “Tajarin” which ultimately are the smaller version of Tagliatelli, a ribbon like pasta that is from the region of Piedmont in the northern Italy.

1. 

What you will need:

1 kg Mussels

2 tbs olive oil

4 garlic cloves chopped finely

2 ripe tomatoes

Good bunch of chopped parsley (1 full cup)

Squeeze of half a lemon

500 grams egg pasta

Salt

Preparation:

In a shallow pan on high heat, add olive oil and allow to heat for 30 seconds. Add the garlic and cook gently for one minute. Do not allow the garlic to brown as it will become bitter. If this happens, start again.

Add the tomato to the pan and stir through for one minute. Lower the heat to medium strength.

Scrape the mussels clean and rinse. Add the mussels to the pan along with the parsley.

Place the lid on the pan and steam the mussels on low to medium heat for a few minutes.

As soon as the mussels pop open, remove them from the sauce. Allow the sauce to simmer gently for a couple minutes while you cook the pasta.

Generally, I find that the juice from the mussels seasons this dish enough with no need for additional salt. However, you may wish to add a sprinkling of salt to your pasta pot.

Once the pasta is cooked, use tongs to take it directly from the pasta pot to the sauce. There is no need to strain the pasta.

Allow for the pasta to sauté in the sauce for a minute or two. Do not let the juices dry up completely.

Serve the pasta with the mussels scattered on top.

Enjoy.