Mussels, linguine and samphire (Cozze, linguine e salicornia)
Seafood and pasta are just made for each other, but having developed allergies to shrimp, prawn and crab in 2020, I am having to revisit what I can eat and therefore some of our standby recipes too. Getting that ‘seafood’ taste is relatively easy if you utilise the shells and heads of prawns etc but sadly I can no longer do that. This recipe however lacks nothing on the taste format at all and must be one of the simplest seafood past recipes I know.
The original recipe comes for Jamie Oliver’s “Jamie’s Italy” which has many delightful recipes (1). We have adapted it slightly in terms of supporting ingredients and quantities. Linguine seems to work beautifully with seafood and we have made this successfully with both fresh and dried pasta. The cooking is so simple that ingredients should all be prepared in advanced and be ready to ‘pop in the pan’. The dish cooks equally well in the Big Green Egg or on a domestic hob. The pasta can be cooked on the BGE but I would almost always cook this on a hob when available.
After setting up the Big Green Egg for direct cooking, we put a pan of salted water on the hob to boil so it would be ready for the pasta. On the Egg we used our handless Tefal Ingenio Sautée pan and added a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. The garlic, chilli and anchovy was added and cooked for a couple of minutes until the anchovies softened into the oil making the base for the sauce. It is important to make sure the garlic doesn’t take on any colour. At this point the halved tomatoes were added. The juice of the tomatoes combines with the anchovy and oil to make a lovely simple sauce. This can now be taken off the heat.
Whilst the dish works well with fresh or dried linguine, using dried gives a little more time flexibility. Cook the pasta for 1-2 mins less than the suggested cooking time so it’s al dente. When we were 3 mins from this point we popped the sautée pan back onto the BGE and then add a good handful of washed and debearded mussels to the tomato sauce. The pan was tossed, then the lid placed on top and cooked until all the mussels opened. (As usual with mussels, if any remain closed after cooking, throw them away). On the BGE you can get away without putting the lid on the pan. In addition to the chopped parsley in the original recipe, we also added a handful of samphire which works really well. Shut down the BGE
The linguine and just a little pasta water was added to the mussels and sauce and it was popped back on the heat. It was stirred and tossed together so the pasta could taker all the sauce flavours, which brings everything together beautifully. The top was closed on the BGE for a final minute or so to finish the cooking of the pasta perfectly. 
This allows the pasta to suck up all the lovely tomato and mussel juices. We had previously made some tarragon crouton so finished off the dish with these and a good glug of olive oil. This is a dish to serve immediately.
Crouton footnote
Making the crouton is so simple. Cube some stale bread (remove the crusts first) add to a clean sauté or frying pan with some olive oil and salt. Fry gently until starting to crisp and then add some chopped tarragon and stir all together for a minute or two. Take off the heat and use when ready.
References
(1) Jamie Oliver: Jamie’s Italy ISBN-10 : 0718147707
Mussels, linguine and samphire
A great combination of mussels and linguine in a simple anchovy, garlic and tomato sauce
Ingredients
- extra virgin olive oil
- 2 large cloves of garlic, sliced
- 1-2 pinches of crumbled dried chilli
- 2 anchovy fillet
- 12 ripe cherry tomatoes, halved
- 250 g fresh linguine or 200g dried
- 400g mussels, washed and debearded
- a small bunch of fresh parsley, chopped
- small handful of samphire
- sea salt
- freshly ground black pepper
Directions
- Step 1 Pre boil the salted water for the pasta and set up the Big Green Egg for direct cooking.
- Step 2 Add a generous drizzle of extra virgin olive oil to a fry/sautée pan. Add the garlic, chilli and anchovy and cook for a couple of minutes until the anchovies softened into the oil. Make sure the garlic doesn’t take on any colour. Add the halved tomatoes, cook through for 2 mins and remove from the heat, then take off the heat.
- Step 3 Cook the pasta for 1-2 mins less than the suggested cooking time so it is al dente. Three mins before this point put the sautée pan back onto the BGE and add a good handful of washed and debearded mussels to the tomato sauce. Toss then place the lid on top and cook until all the mussels are open. Add the chopped parsley and samphire and shut down the BGE
- Step 4 Add the linguine to the mussels and sauce on the heat and stir and toss it altogether. Leave on the heat for a final minute or so to finish the cooking of the pasta perfectly.
- Step 5 Serve with a good glug of olive oil, and if using them, the tarragon crouton
The prawns were defrosted and put on a bamboo skewer for ease of handling. They were cooked over a direct flame until they just became pink and were slightly singed on their edges then put to oneside to cool.
From this point making the pâté really just becomes a matter of assembly. All this could be done in a food processor but we wanted a coarse chunky pâté and so all the components were hand chopped with a chef’s knife. 
The smoked trout was first sliced then added to the shelled prawns and they were both roughly chopped. The white crab meat was then added together with the zest of half a lemon. 
(The dish would be fine without the crab – just slightly different.) This was all put in a glass bowl together with the cream cheese, the juice of a lemon and a little black pepper and cayenne pepper. There was no need to add salt. This was mixed thoroughly and then spooned into a pâté dish and decorated with some crab claw meat – and the only green that we had to hand – a small basil rosette.
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