Simple and delicious, pasta with beans and mussels is a recipe of the Campania tradition that gloriously combines sea and land. It may seem strange to eat pasta and beans during the summer, but this dish is enjoyed mainly during the hottest days of the year! Why, you ask? It’s because the period from May to August is the best time to enjoy the authentic taste of mussels!
Don't worry, the heat from the steaming pasta dish won't be a problem once you've tasted the first delicious spoonful. Spoonful, yes, because this recipe is made strictly with short pasta, preferably different varieties mixed together. Alternatively, penne or other “tubular” pasta types are also very good (do not make mistakes, you know that we “campani” care about these things).
The perfect place to taste this wonderful traditional dish is obviously Campania, more precisely in the famous Chalets. These are characteristic kiosks that are located at seaside resorts, often located near the port. Those not to be missed: Chalet Laura and Chalet Annamaria in Castellammare di Stabia (a province of Naples), where you can enjoy many dishes based on fish typical of the area.
Alternatively, you can make it at home: in the South, everyone has their own recipe for pasta with beans and mussels…there are those who use cannellini beans and those who like borlotti beans. There are those who prefer a creamy sauce and those who like it more brothy. I leave you the recipe of my father, who made me love this dish:
Pasta with Beans and Mussels: the Recipe
Serves 4
Ingredients
14 oz. cannellini beans, 3 lbs. mussels, 12 oz. mixed pasta, 4 oz. ripe tomatoes, 2 cloves of garlic, Crushed red pepper, Parsley, Extra virgin olive oil, salt
Method
Clean the mussels well; rinse them under running water and remove all the incrustations with a knife or by rubbing them together until the shell is perfectly clean. Fry the garlic, oil and a few sprigs of parsley in a pan. Add the mussels, cover with a lid and wait for them to open (it will take about 5 minutes). Once open, filter the cooking water with a narrow mesh sieve and set water aside. Shell the mussels and put them aside, removing those that have remained closed. In another saucepan, prepare a sauté of garlic, oil, red pepper and parsley. Add a few tomatoes, already scalded and skinned, and then the beans. If you use dried beans, make sure you soak them overnight and cook them for an hour. If you have used canned beans, cook them for about 30 minutes. In both cases, season with salt and add some of the liquid from the mussels previously set aside. At this point, you can cook the pasta separately or directly in the casserole dish. If you cook the pasta separately, drain it well al dente, add it to the casserole dishj and finish cooking, adding the mussels (already shelled). For a creamier result, you can cook the pasta directly in the casserole dish, adding the remaining liquid of the mussels, as needed. Stir often. Add the shelled mussels a few minutes before the end of cooking. Serve with more fresh chopped parsley.