Neapolitan mussels soup

Let me give you a classic Neapolitan dish packed with flavour.

Get a good bag of mussels, a can of tomatoes (depending on where you live you can use fresh tomatoes if in season) garlic, a good grind of pepper and a bunch of parsley; this is all that’s needed to make a truly Italian flavourful meal.. oh and of course good quality olive oil is always a must.

Don’t be tempted to use pre-cooked vacuum packed mussels as they are nowhere near as nice as fresh ones;  I know they need cleaning but it is worth the effort and it does not take that long after all.

Make sure you don’t over cook the mussels: you just need to cook them until they open. If they don’t or if their shells are broken discard them.

You can give a kick to this dish by adding a chilly for a more “robust” flavour.

• Prep Time : 40 minutes
• Cook Time : 35 minutes

Ingredients

• fresh mussels – 1 Kg
• parsley – a bunch
• garlic – 2 cloves
• salt and pepper
• olive oil
• chopped tomatoes – 1 can or 4 fresh tomatoes

Instructions

Wash and clean the mussels. Put them in a large pan with a tbsp of olive oil and let them open up.

As soon as they open take them out of the pan and keep them in a warm place. Filter the liquid they have released.

Put the chopped tomatoes in a pan with 2 tbsp of olive oil, the chopped garlic, salt and pepper and cook for 20 minutes

Add the chopped parsley and the liquid released by the mussels. Cook for a further 10 minutes allowing the sauce to reduce

Serve the mussels with the sauce and with some toasted bread, drizzled with olive oil. You can mop up the juices with it. Heaven!

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