Pasta and mussels with cheese sauce
Ever since I had the mushroom pasta and mussels with white sauce at La Maison, I had been planning on replicating them at home. I bought mussels so many times after that first lunch there but the mussels always ended up in the oven — baked and topped with cheese. Well, I had a kilo and a half of mussels soaking in water in the fridge overnight and I figured it was now or never. Then, I discovered I didn’t have any fresh mushrooms. So, instead of a mussel with white sauce dish and a mushroom pasta dish, I created a spaghetti and mussels with cheese sauce lunch.
An oil-free pasta dish. No butter, no olive oil even. I never thought anything oil-free could taste so good.
Now, this recipe is good for a single serving. It was just an experiment, after all, and just in case I messed up, I didn’t want to be wasteful. But it did turn out well, so I’m cooking the rest of the mussels in the fridge with pasta and cheese sauce for dinner tonight.
Ingredients:
50 g. of pasta (any shape)
7 to 8 mussels (soaked, washed and debearded)
a splash of white wine
50 g. of cheese (I used Monterey Jack), crumbled
25 g. of cream cheese (I used herbed cream cheese), crumbled
salt
pepper
some parsley for ganish
Cook the pasta according to package directions. Drain. Reserve 1 cup of the pasta water.
Reheat the pasta water and bring to the boil. Add the mussels. Pour in the white wine. Boil until the mussels open, about 2 to 3 minutes. Scoop out the mussels and allow the liquid to continue boiling until reduced to half. You want a more concentrated mussel stock with the full bodied flavor of the wine so reduce, reduce, reduce.
Meanwhile, open the mussel shells and discard the empty halves.
To the reduced liquid in the pan, add the crumbled cheeses. Stir until melted. Turn off the heat. Season lightly with salt and generously with pepper. Add the cooked pasta and mussels. Toss to coat.
Tip the contents of the pan to a plate, sprinkle with torn parsley and serve.
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Hi Ms. Connie! I’ve been lurking for sometime here and trully enjoyed the recipes you posted, especially those regarding pasta dishes.
I’ve been wanting to ask you about using wine in cooking. I apologize but I have zero knowledge about wine so i wonder what type of wine do you use? Can this be easily bought off the racks of any grocery?
Yes, some are even labeled “cooking wine.”
hello! i often hear from cooking shows that you should use wine that you would love to drink. if you don’t find the taste good for drinking, don’t use it for cooking.
but of course, the case is different when it comes to asian cooking. as some asian cooking wine are not intended for drinking (e.g. mirin).
hmmm….just the thought of melting the cream cheese in that stock…delicious! I will definitely try it!
hi ms connie, is there any substitute for the wine? im planning to cook this for my bf coz he loves mussels but then he can’t have wine coz he is muslim. thanks!
You can omit it. It won’t taste the same but it’ll still be good.
wow this is an amazing blog! i recently got married and would want to try cooking. i have zero knowledge and i will certainly use this site as guide!
hi connie!
can we use mussels with no shells? also, we have no monterey jack cheese here in Holland-do you know any available substitute?
Yes, you can. But if they’re canned, I can’t vouch for the flavor. And you can use just about any cheese that you like.
I saw this recipe today and decided that since i have all of the ingredients in the fridge that this will be dinner tonight. Again side salad and garlic bread to complete the setting. I had to used the frozen New Zealand mussels in the half shell which is more available here than the fresh ones. Dinagdagan ko na lang ng bottled clam juice plus i just added a lb of shrimps. Sabi ng tatlong fans mo -”Mom did you not see any new dessert recipes? This is so yummy but it needs to be completed with something sweet at the end.” Hey, maghanap na lang kayo ng ice cream sa freezer.
HAHAHA Please tell them no worries. Since Sam will be home for the weekend, I’m baking (she demands!). One tonight, another tomorrow.
I’m bringing a container of this pasta to work tonight. My co-workers know that when i am off for a couple of days, i usually do most of the cooking for the week. Now they have a saying-”If Raymund eats well, WE will eat well.” Nothing better than food to keep the unit happy- better working atmosphere. My daughter Rochelle did bake me a dessert – chocolate fudge brownies with pecans-sinfully addicting. One tray for me to take to work-one tray for her, Daddy, and brother. Malapit na maubos.
I’m a choco addict too so I can just imagine hehehe