Spaghetti with Mussels

CLEANING THE MUSSELS

1. Before starting, make sure your sink is clean with no traces of soap or chemicals and place a colander into it.

2. Make sure your mussels are alive, remove them from their packaging and place them into a large bowl.

3. Look for smelly, opened, or cracked shells and dump them in the trash can.

4. Place your bowl containing the mussels next to your sink.

5. Remove the beards; they are thin, sticky membranes you will find on one side of the mussel shells.

6. Hold the shells firmly with one hand and pull off the beard with the other by holding the hairy part with your thumb and pointing finger. Simultaneously pull in the opposite direction—the hand holding the shell toward you and the one having the beard towards the top edge. You know you removed everything perfectly if a white mushy element is dragged out of the shells together with the beard.

7. Debeard one at a time and place them into the colander previously set into the sink.

8. Scrub to remove debris and seaweed on their outer shells, if present, by using the top edge of one shell against the surface of the other. Hold firmly under running cold water and place one at a time into a large bowl. If the mussels are four or six pounds and more, you can place them all into the sink, cover them with cold water, rub them between your hands, and rinse them off.

COOKING

1. Place the mussels into a large pot and cover with its lid.

2. Turn on the burner to medium heat.

3. Cook till all the shells open; it will take a few minutes. Do not use the unopened ones.

4. As they cool down and you can handle them without burning your fingers, remove the mussels from their shells and set them aside. Leave 3/4 mussels with their shells per each serving to garnish later.

5. Filter the leftover water released by the mussels and set it aside.

6. Fill in a tall pot with water; add the sea salt once it reaches the simmer.

7. In the meantime, peel the garlic clove and put it into a large pan.

8. Add the extra virgin olive oil, the finely chopped parsley, and red hot chili pepper to taste and cook till the garlic turns golden brown.

9. Add the tomatoes and cook for two minutes, plus sea salt to taste.

10. Add the mussels' water and cook covered on low heat for two minutes.

11. While it cooks, add the spaghetti to the boiling water.

12. Look at the suggested cooking time on the box; if it is twelve minutes, cook for ten and count two minutes less.

13. Once cooked for the suggested time, minus two minutes counting, take one cup of boiling water and pour it into the pan containing the tomato sauce.

14. Add the spaghetti and continue cooking till the liquid absorbs, and you can sautée.

15. Once sautéed, turn off the burner.

16. Add the mussels and stir till evenly combined.

17. Plate and garnish with fined freshly chopped parsley and shelled mussel or as showed in the picture.

Enjoy!