Cozze Ripiene al Sugo Pugliese
Cozze Ripiene al Sugo, or stuffed mussels in sauce, is a speciality dish in Vieste - Gargano that everyone should experience…
In Vieste, seafood is king. This particular dish may be the most popular appetizer served up and down the coast of Gargano, and into the rest of Puglia. The use of the mussels, and even their juice, infuses into the bread stuffing and sauce to remind you that you’re having some of the best food the Adriatic has to offer.
Ingredients:
- 600g of mussels
- 200g of stale crusty bread for bread crumbs
- 2 eggs
- 4 tablespoons of pecorino Romano
- chopped fresh parsley
- 1 clove of garlic
- 500g passata
- pasta of your choice (homemade casarecce shown below)
- 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
- pepper
Clean and soak the mussels in salt water.
In a mixing bowl, tear the bread into small crumbs. Add a few tablespoons of water to moisten.
Add the eggs, some parsley and minced garlic to the bread crumbs. Mix thoroughly with your hands.
Add the pecorino Romano and some pepper while mixing to complete the filling.
With a shucking knife, pry the mussels open over a small bowl to catch the juice and set them aside.
Strain the mussel juice with a fine sieve and save for the sauce.
In a tall sauce pan, heat up some extra virgin olive oil. Sauté some minced garlic, then add the tomato passata, parsley and juice from the mussels.
Let the sauce simmer on low heat while you finish preparing the mussels.
Stuff each mussel with the filling and press them slightly closed as shown in the photo above.
Place the mussels one by one gently into the simmering sauce. Cook for about 20-25 minutes. Try not to stir the sauce because the filling will fall out of the mussels.
Remove the finished mussels one by one onto a serving plate. Garnish with some remaining sauce and parsley.
At this point you can serve them alone as an appetizer, or you can also boil some pasta until l’dente and then toss the pasta into the remaining sauce and serve with the stuffed mussels as shown below.
