Spaghetti fagiolli e cozze

Spaghetti with white beans and mussels!

You can use dry spaghetti, but here we use only fresh home made pasta, so, lets get started!

• 2 eggs
• 200gr pasta flour (preferably Italian)

Mix and kneed well (~10min). The dough should be elastic but not sticky.  Cover in nylon wrap and leave in the fridge for 20min or more.

Roll out the dough using a pasta machine until you reach the desired thickness of dough. Cut the dough to the desired length (don’t make it too long! it is not fun to eat spaghetti that is too). Transfer the dough through the spaghetti cutter in the machine.

For the sauce:

• White beans soaked in water for 6 hours
• 6 tomatoes, cut to cubes (~2cm big)
• mussels (~10 per person)
• olive oil
• garlic
• onion
• salt and pepper
• 1/2 cup white wine (1/4 cup vodka should also work perfectly)

Cook the beans until they are soft but not falling apart (time depends on how long the beans were soaked and how old they are, but it won’t be less than 30min).

In a large pan or a sauteuse pan put the olive oil and saute the onion and garlic (i.e. let them ‘sweat’, not fry). When they are soft, add the tomatoes and then the wine. Season to taste and cook for a short while, until consistency and taste are to your liking.

Cook the spaghetti in plenty of salted boiling water.

Wash the mussels, put them in the tomatoes sauce and cover for 3-4-5 min, until the mussels have opened. There is no need to wait too long; mussels that didn’t open by now will not open, and actually you don’t want them open (they were dead before you cooked them). Completely closed mussels (post cooking) are not good to eat.

Add the (al-dante) cooked spaghetti to the sauce and toss a little.

Serve, with a side bowl for shells and a glass of wine for pleasure, to some soon to be very pleased friends or family.

No need for Parmesan, but chopped parsley or basil would not hurt.