Name: Fresh Mussel Sauce with Linguini
Yield: Serves 6
Cuisine: Italy
Ingredients: 1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest; 1 cup finely chopped onions; 2 tablespoons finely chopped garlic; Big pinch of red pepper flakes (optional); 1 teaspoon fennel seeds, crushed (fold in waxed paper or a clean envelope and smack with the bottom of a skillet if you don’t have a mortar and pestle); Freshly ground pepper; 4 pounds mussels in the shell, well washed and “beards” removed; 1 pound dried linguini; 6 tablespoons butter or olive oil; ⅓ cup chopped fresh parsley leaves; 2 cups crisp, light-bodied white wine

Preparation info

Serves
6

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Cooking One on One

By John Ash

Published 2004

About

Fresh mussels are quick and easy to cook and practically make their own sauce. Those that we buy in the market today are generally farm-raised and, as a result, are much cleaner and don’t need to be “purged” of grit and sand before cooking. Substitute clams if you like them better. The traditional recipe calls for a long pasta but you can use anything you want. You can also remove the mussels from the shell before combining with the pasta. I don’t serve this with cheese, but you can if you