Mussels in White Wine One-pan Pasta

Mussels are our local go-to when it comes to shellfish. They’re more widely available than other shellfish like pipis or clams and more budget friendly than oysters, which makes them a regular feature on our family menu.

After roasting the mussels in garlic and oil, we use their natural saltiness and flavour to make a simple yet rich, delicious dish with white wine.

Usually, we’d enjoy the wine-steamed mussels first, then dress the separately boiled pasta with the leftover broth. But this time around, we’ve gone with the one-pan pasta. This means the pasta soaks up all that mussel goodness, giving it a slightly sticky texture a little like that of ramen noodles.

Back when I lived in Tokyo, De Cecco fedelini pasta was my pasta of choice. But the De Cecco product is not something that I can get my hands on easily in Melbourne, so Barilla spaghettini is what I’m using. 

The spaghettini noodles are a tad thicker than fedelini, but they do the job nicely especially for something like this one-pan pasta that takes little time to cook.

R

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Mussels in White Wine One-Pan Pasta

Servings 2 people

Prep Time 6 minutes mins

Cook Time 9 minutes mins

Total Time 15 minutes mins

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Ingredients

  

• 20 mussels (about 550g) (Mussels are tastier when the shells are small and plump and bulging rather than large.)
• 2 garlic cloves chopped finely
• 1 chilli (red cayenne chilli) (Or some other type of chilli to suit your taste.)
• 20 g flat parsley leaves (a.k.a. Italian parsley leaves)
• 100 ml white wine (I'm using a cheap chardonnay.)
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 200 g pasta (Thin pasta with a cooking time of about 5 minutes.)
• 300 ml hot water

Instructions

 

• Rinse the mussels under tap water, scrubbing the shells with the pointed end to remove any algae. 
  
• Remove the whiskers by pinching and pulling them downwards while holding the shell upright. 
  
• Rinse the mussels again and set them aside in a colander.
  
• Finely chop the garlic, fresh chili, and parsley (leave 4-5 parsley leaves for decoration).

  TIP: I use a long red cayenne chili, which isn’t too spicy, perfect even for kids. But if you want something with more of a kick, you could use dried or some other type of fresh hot chilies.
  
• Heat up a large drizzle of olive oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat. 
• Add the garlic and chili, frying until fragrant.
  
• Once the garlic releases its fragrant aroma, toss in the mussels, turn up the heat to high, and add 100 ml of white wine. 
  
• Cover and steam for 1 to 2 minutes until the mussels pop open.
  
• Remove the lid, stir the mussels gently for 30 seconds to combine the flavours, then reduce the heat to medium high, and take out the mussels. 

  TIP: If any of the mussels remain closed, pry them open with a fork.

  TIP: Remember that shellfish cook in a flash, so you don’t want to leave them on the heat too long or they’ll toughen up and shrink.
  
• In the same pan, add 300 ml of hot water and bring it to the boil; and when boiled, drop in the pasta along with 1 tsp of salt. 

  Tip: When making one-pan pasta, some people like to fold the pasta. But I’m happy to just shove it all in once it’s softened up a bit. It should take around 30 seconds to wrangle it all in.

  Tip: If you’re cooking the pasta separately, skip adding salt to the liquid since mussels are already pretty salty.
  
• After 4 minutes, just taste a piece of pasta here to check the saltiness and firmness of the pasta.

  It should be al dente, with a slightly firm core. Turn off the heat, stir in the parsley, and serve the pasta in bowls (don’t add the liquid into the bowls yet.)

  Tip: Barilla spaghettini usually takes about 5 minutes to cook, but I tend to take the pasta out after around 4 minutes. Although keep in mind that the oil in the cooking water may prolong the cooking time slightly—the pasta might need up to an extra minute to reach that perfect al dente texture. I prefer my pasta super al dente, so I usually take it out when it’s still a tad firm knowing it’ll soften just right by the time it’s served.

  Tip: If the water level seems low, just toss in a bit more hot water.
  
• Arrange the mussels on top of the pasta, pour over the remaining liquid, and garnish with parsley.
  
• Enjoy!

Notes

In supermarkets, mussels are often sold in 1 kg packets. If you like mussels, go all out and use the whole 1 kg!

100 g of pasta for one person may not be enough for someone who eats a lot. If you want to increase the amount of pasta, you will need to add hot water for that amount.