Cavatelli with plump mussels, potato and tomato
Plus accompanying reel for all the visual people out there. X
I felt like soup. I also felt like mussels. And I ALSO had a craving for little shells of pasta. It felt right to combine these food desires on an August evening when there wasn’t much else to do during a lockdown.
To make hand-rolled cavatelli you only need two ingredients - semola rimacinata and water. If you don’t have a gnocchi board you can use the inside of a fork to roll the little pieces of dough which will create the same shell-like shape.
The sauce is quite soupy, taking on a creaminess from the starchy potatoes. Together with the fresh mussels and cavatelli it becomes quite a handsome meal.
Enjoy and please send me a message if you have any questions about the process. X
Ps. For all the visual people out there, this is a cute reel I made to accompany the recipe.
Cavatelli with Mussels, Potato and Tomato
To make the semolina pasta dough you will need -
This pasta dough makes enough for 4 people
400g semola rimacinata (fine durum wheat flour)
200ml lukewarm water
The process -
Using your hands combine the semola with the water and begin kneading the dough until it is smooth and elastic (about ten minutes).
Let the dough rest for at least 30 minutes under a slightly damp tea towel.
Cut the dough into six portions. Take the first piece and roll it into a long rope about 1cm thick. Cut the rope into little pea sized pieces no wider than 1cm. Once you’ve cut the dough, using a gnocchi board (or a fork), hold a piece of dough against the board with your thumb and roll it down and over the ribbed surface. Continue with the remaining dough until they are finished.
Place the finished cavatelli on clean tea towels sprinkled with a light dusting of semola to dry out. You can let them dry out on the bench overnight or at least until they are completely dry to the touch.
To make the mussels and broth you will need -
This recipe makes enough for 2-3 people
1kg live mussels, beards and grit removed (to clean: check over the mussels and discard any that are cracked or open and won’t close when the shell is gently tapped. Clean each mussel under cold water, you can even take steel wool and give the outside a good scrub).
1 brown onion, finely diced
6 cloves of garlic, finely sliced
2 big ripe, juicy tomatoes
1 big potato, peeled and diced into 1cm pieces
Extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp fennel seeds, crushed
Chilli flakes
Fresh cracked black pepper
Flakey salt
1 glass of white wine
Enough of the cavatelli for two-three people (about 125g per person)
A handful of parsley, chopped
The process -
Start by cutting an ‘X’ into the bottom of the tomatoes. Place them in a pot of boiling water and blanch for 30 seconds or until the skins are begin to peel off. Take them out of the water and once they’ve cooled down peel the skins off the tomatoes. Roughly dice the skinless tomatoes, save all the juice and keep to the side. If you can’t find beautiful tomatoes at the grocer you can substitute them for 400g of whole peeled tinned tomatoes.
To cook the mussels heat up a wide fry pan over a medium-high heat and pour in a nice amount of olive oil (about 2 tablespoons) followed by the cleaned mussels. Pour over the wine and shake the pan around. Cover the pan for a few minutes and shake the pan a little more so that the mussels move around and continue to open up. After two minutes begin pulling out the mussels that have opened up and transfer to a large platter. Continue until all the mussels have opened (discard any mussels that haven’t opened up - they are dead and are not good to eat). Strain the mussel and wine liquid and keep to the side. Pull the mussel meat from the shells, reserving some whole mussels to garnish the dish.
Pour 5 tablespoons of olive oil in a wide pot and gently fry the onion over medium low heat. After a few minutes add in the garlic and fry together until fragrant and the garlic is just turning golden. Turn the flame down to a low gentle heat, pour in the chopped tomatoes along with their juices and stir together, pushing down on the tomatoes to release more juices. Simmer for about 10 minutes, and add in a splash of water if you find the liquid is reducing too much.
Pour about 1 cup of the strained mussel and wine liquid into the pot with the onions and tomato. Add the pepper, chilli flakes, fennel and a small pinch of flakey salt (the mussel liquid will be quite salty so don’t over salt) and let simmer for 5 minutes on a low gentle heat.
In the meantime, bring a pot of salted water (just lightly salt the water as you may need to use some of the pasta water later and you don’t want it to be too salty) to a boil and cook the potatoes (this should take about 2-3 minutes). When just cooked pull out the potatoes and add the cavatelli to the boiling water, stir and cook for three minutes or until the pasta floats to the top.
Add the cavatelli, potatoes, mussels and parsley to the tomato broth. Pour over a glug of olive oil and stir everything together. Let the ingredients meet on a gentle simmer for another two minutes. The consistency should be quite soupy so add a ladle of pasta water if you need to loosen the broth a little more. Serve either straight from the pot or ladle onto a big platter and eat with spoons and extra parsley for those who want it. X