Mussels and chickpeas are a perfect match for your main courses of fish or even as a small appetizer for lunch. The preparation is very simple and quite relatively fast if you buy the canned chickpeas, even if we suggest to cook the dried ones. If you want to use fresh chickpeas instead, you need boil them in water for a few hours. This dish is very tasty and can surprise your guests or be perfect for the family. Try them anyway anyway. We recommend to not put salt because generally the mussels are really salty, at least in Italy.
MUSSELS AND CHICKPEAS
Servings 2 people
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 30 minute
Instructions
- Leave the mussels in a bowl with salted water for about an hour to purge them (1). Then with a knife start to scrape the shells (2) to remove all the impurities. Then rub with a steel mesh (3).
- Peel and finely chop the garlic (4). Pour five tablespoons of olive oil (5) in a large pan to warm it. Once hot, add half of the chopped garlic (6) and fry for a minute.
- Add the mussels (7) to the pan, raise the heat and cover with a lid (8) for about five minutes, until all the mussels have opened (9) and have released their water. Turn off the heat.
- Pour five tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil (10) in a pot and heat over medium heat. Add the rest of the garlic (11), the parsley and the chopped pepper (12) to fry a couple of minutes.
- Drain the chickpeas (13) in a colander, then add them to the pot (14) and cook them for about a quarter of an hour. Mix often (15) to flavor in the oil.
- Place the mussels in a small bowl (16) keeping their water in the pan. Filter that water (17) with a sieve and leave aside in a glass. Eliminate the shells of the mussels (18).
- Pour the water from the mussels into the pot (19) with the chickpeas, mix and taste to understand if you need add some salt. Then add the shelled mussels (20) and leave to flavor for another five minutes, covering with the lid (21). Then serve hot on the table.