Fresh mussels with garlic, red chili, shallots, and white wine with pasta recipe

This easy-to-make and super-delicious meal is a hands-down winner for your family this summer, and goes a long way within the so-called cost of living crisis we are currently experiencing.

Most of us have made this wonderful dish at some point before, but this is a polite reminder that you may want to make it again!

Ingredients for 2 people:

One bag of fresh mussels (in a net). Don't use supermarket mussels in air-tight plastic bags, try to use fresh mussels only from the counter of your supermarket, or ideally from your local fishmonger.

One medium-sized banana shallot. Chopped.

Two pieces of fresh organic garlic. Chopped.

1 red chili. Chopped.

A glass of dry white wine.

A nob of fresh organic butter.

Handful of freshly chopped organic parsley

Organic pasta: In this recipe, we used fresh, organic penne pasta from the fridge that needed eating, but usually, we would cook this dish with linguine, which takes around 11-13 mins, so adjust your timings based on the pasta of choice.

How to make it:

Firstly, wash and clean your mussels under a cold tap, removing any little beards of seaweed that may be lurking. Put them aside.

Then boil a pan of hot water for your pasta.

Add another pan (with high sides) for your mussels to a low heat and melt the butter. Then add your chopped shallots and sauté for 2-3 minutes until glossy.

Add the chopped red chili and garlic for another 2 minutes and be careful not to brown the contents in the pan. Low heats are better for infusing all of the flavours into the butter. If you cook the garlic too fast and burn it, it will not taste good!

Add your glass of wine to the mixture and stir in. Then luz in your clean mussels and close your pot so that the steam from the wine can naturally open the mussels. Usually only takes a few minutes. Stir the ingredients into the mussels and enjoy the sound of the shells moving around.

Drain the pasta, add it to your mussel pan, and stir it all in. As mentioned above, we used fresh, organic penne pasta that takes only 3 mins, so this particular dish you see in the photo takes no longer than 10 mins max.

Add freshly chopped organic parsley, season with Celtic salt and ground black pepper, then serve.

If you are not a pasta fan then enjoy your mussels alongside a piece of freshly toasted, buttered sourdough instead, and toast your friends with a glass of wine.

Cheap, healthy, delicious, super-quick to make, and hardly any washing up!

Zac