Mussels Fra Diavolo
About ten years ago Gary requested Mussels Fra Diavolo to be included in our Christmas Eve dinner. Our father & husbands love the hot & spicy sauce the mussels are cooked in. We serve it over linguine or angel hair pasta. It's an easy & quick recipe that you can make as hot as you like (read Note below before step 2) . The lovers of HEAT in your family will definitely enjoy this sauce. 😋 😋
Ingredients
- 1½ heads of garlic
- 1/3 cup red wine (optional)
- 1½ tsp hot red pepper flakes
- 4 shakes cayenne pepper
- 1/2 cup EVOO
- 3 (28 oz) cans San Marzano whole tomatoes
- 1 (28 oz) can crushed tomatoes
- 2 Tablespoons tomato paste
- 2 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp dried basil
- 1/4 cup capers, drained (optional)
- 1/2 cup Kalamata olives, pitted & chopped (optional)
- 3-4 lbs mussels, cleaned & debearded
- 1 can sliced Scungilli (optional)
- 2 shakes of black pepper
Directions
- In a 12-inch skillet, heat the EVOO on medium-low.
- Add garlic and red pepper flakes, stir well.
- Add tomatoes, oregano, basil, capers, olives & wine.
- Break up the tomatoes and simmer about 15-20 minutes until the sauce thickens.
- In the meantime, cook your linguine or angel hair pasta.
- Raise sauce heat to medium and add the mussels. Cover & continue cooking another 3-6 minutes more or until mussels are open.
- Add the can of sliced scungilli if using. (These are already cooked so they don’t need more than 1 minute in the sauce)
- Discard any mussels that do not open.
- Serve over pasta & enjoy.
Note: If your not a lover of heat, sprinkle half the hot red pepper flakes and cayenne pepper first then give it a good stir. Taste it & proceed from there. You can always add heat but you can’t take it away!
Did you make this recipe? We would love to hear from you. Please leave us a comment below or Tag @twiinsinthekitchen on Instagram and hashtag it #twiinsinthekitchen.