Pugliese mussel soup with garlic bruschetta (zuppa di cozze piccante)

Gourmet~Traveller

Cuisine: Italian

Serves: 4

Type: Soup

Tools

Kitchen friendly view

Pugliese mussel soup with garlic bruschetta (zuppa di cozze piccante)

By Emma Knowles & Lisa Featherby

Ingredients

70 ml olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
6 anchovy fillets
1 tsp dried chilli flakes, or to taste
800 gm canned cherry tomatoes
120 ml dry white wine
2 kg mussels, scrubbed, beards removed
To serve: coarsely chopped flat-leaf parsley and small basil leaves

8 thick slices sourdough bread
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 garlic clove, halved

Preparation method

Serves 4

Prep time 20 mins, cook 25 mins

This simple soup calls for canned cherry tomatoes, but you could substitute fresh tomatoes or canned whole tomatoes and break them up with a wooden spoon.

Heat 40ml oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat, add onion and garlic and stir occasionally until very tender (6-8 minutes), add anchovies and chilli and stir until anchovies dissolve (1 minute). Add tomatoes, season to taste and simmer until thick (6-8 minutes).

Meanwhile, heat remaining oil in a separate large saucepan, add wine and mussels, cover and shake pan occasionally until mussels open (3-4 minutes). Strain mussel liquid into tomato mixture, and when cool enough to handle, remove half the mussels from their shells (discard shells) and set aside.

Meanwhile, preheat grill to high heat. Drizzle bread slices with oil and toast, turning once, until golden. Rub with cut-side of garlic, season to taste and keep warm.

Add mussels to tomato mixture, simmer until warmed through, stir through parsley, scatter with basil and serve hot with garlic bruschetta to the side.

Also in this section

Spaghetti and mussels for $10

Stir-fried mussels and rice for $10

Mussel and calamari pasta

Mussels with speck, oregano & lemon

More inspiration

Traditional FocacciaI recently put the call out to my social media people, what they thought the most popular food of the nineties was and I received a resounding “Focaccia”. Of course! Who can forget the ol’ sun dried...

Hopetoun Tea Rooms' pavlovaFlavours of Melbourne is a locally sourced cookbook-come-city guide for all things food related in Victoria's capital. Bursting with almost 400 pages of photography from the streets, laneways...

Nine-year-old food critic grades her school lunchesA nine-year-old school girl in Scotland has become a blogging sensation after posting reviews of her school lunches on the internet.

Recipe finder