Stuffed Mussels

Stuffed mussels are a really tasty dish and a great way to cook these molluscs, the main ingredient in many other recipes from Puglia, the filling is made with bread crumbs, parsley, garlic, pepper, cheese and eggs and is used to stuff the mussels open from raw.

Ingredients

• 1 kg. mussels
• 1 lt. tomato sauce
• 400 gr. bread crumbs
• 2 eggs
• 3 cloves garlic
• 60 gr. grated  cheese
• chopped parsley to taste
• salt to taste
• pepper to taste
• extra virgin olive oil to taste

Instructions

1. To prepare the stuffed mussels, started to soak the bread in water and in the meantime chopped parsley and 2 cloves of garlic.
2. Once softened, squeeze well the bread crumbs and add to the grated  cheese, salt, pepper, eggs and parsley and minced garlic before.
3. Mix the ingredients with your hands until the dough is smooth and compact that you will leave aside.
4. Now scrape and wash the mussels raw and open them holding the fruit on one side and not doing completely separate the two halves.
5. Once all the mussels open, take small amount of dough and stuffed every single mussel to finish them.
6. After filling, take each mussel and close it with kitchen twine or cotton, eliminating any excess dough that comes out. NOTE: If you use cotton  sewing thread,  several times around the mussel, tightening and knotting, if used instead of the string, just one lap around the mussel.
7. Remember to remove all excess dough before cooking the mussels so as not to soil the sauce.
8. In a pan, put a clove of garlic and extra virgin olive oil, garlic and let brown, add the tomato puree.
9. As soon as the sauce begins to boil, add the mussels one by one gently with a lid and simmer over low heat for about 25 minutes.
10. Serve the mussels and stuffed with a boxcutter or a pair of scissors cut the thread. The sauce can taste it with the excellent Altamura bread, or use it to dress pasta.