Zuppa di Cozze Piccante

Name: Zuppa di Cozze Piccante (Spicy Mussel Soup)
Yield: Serves 6
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: 6 anchovy fillets; 4 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped; 1 × 800 g (1.¾ lb) tin peeled plum tomatoes, drained of most of their juices, chopped; 3 small dried chillies, crumbled; 2.5 kg (5.½ lb) mussels, cleaned as in the previous recipe; 150 ml (5 fl oz) white wine; 75 ml (2.½ fl oz) olive oil; 1 garlic clove, peeled and halved; extra virgin olive oil; 1 bunch flat-leaf parsley, chopped; 6 slices pugliese bread, cut at an angle; sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Spicy Mussel Soup

Preparation info

Serves
6

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

The River Café Cookbook

By Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers

Published 1995

About

In its use of chillies, anchovies and tomatoes, this mussel soup from Puglia is typical of the southern Italian style of cooking.

Ingredients

2.5 kg (5.½ lb) mussels, cleaned as in the previous recipe
75 ml (2.½

Europe
Italy
Starter
Pescatarian
Spicy
Mediterranean
Soup

Method

Heat 60 ml (2 fl oz) of the olive oil in a large saucepan, then add the mussels, the white wine and 120 ml (4 fl oz) water. Cook over a high heat until all the mussels are open, discarding any that remain closed. You may need to cook the mussels in batches; divide the oil, wine and water accordingly.

Remove the mussels, and boil to reduce the liquid by half. Remove half the mussels from