The mussel soup of Holy Thursday
Holy Thursday and, as per tradition, in Naples we have dinner with mussel soup! This custom, a bit like all Neapolitan festivals, is a mixture of the sacred and the profane. On the evening of Holy Thursday, in fact, we remember the Last Supper of Jesus Christ, consumed with his Apostles before the "Passion", re-enacted in church with the Mass in "Cena Domini", that is, the Lord's Supper. Legend has it that Ferdinand I of Bourbon, a glutton for fish and seafood that he used to cook with very sumptuous recipes and often of his own creation, was admonished by a Dominican friar, Gregorio Maria Rocco, who invited him not to exceed with sins of gluttony, at least during Holy Week. Then the sovereign, in order not to give up the mussels he liked so much, ordered the servants to prepare them for him in a simple and humble way. The resulting dish consisted of mussels, tomato sauce and hot pepper oil. Currently, the recipe for mussel soup has many variations, which are handed down from the family: in fact, there are those who prepare it only with mussels and those who also add clams and "purpitielli", those who make it ultra-spicy and those who almost do not add chili pepper. Below, I offer you my version of mussel soup!
Ingredients
Mussels 2 KgOctopus 1 1/300 KgFreselle 3 Kg Extra virgin olive oil Chilipepper Tomato sauce concentrate 1 gGarlic clovesWhite wine
Steps
Clean the octopus and cook it in a saucepan filled with water for about 40-50 minutes. Once cooked, cut the octopus into small pieces and save the water to wet the friselle. Sauté the garlic with the oil in a pan, when it is golden, add the tomato paste sauce, 2 cups of water and the chili pepper and let it simmer for 10-15 minutes. Clean the mussels well and, in a non-stick pan, brown a clove of garlic with oil, when it is golden remove the garlic and pour in the mussels, let it evaporate with white wine, then cover with the lid for about 5 minutes, the time for all the mussels to open spontaneously. Remove the mussels, filter the cooking water and add it to the octopus water. At this point, arrange the freselle on each plate, wet them with the water of the octopus and mussels, add the mussels, the octopus and, finally, the sauce to taste. Traditional Thursday mussel soup is served!
Holy Thursday and, as per tradition, in Naples we have dinner with mussel soup! This custom, a bit like all Neapolitan festivals, is a mixture of the sacred and the profane. On the evening of Holy Thursday, in fact, we remember the Last Supper of Jesus Christ, consumed with his Apostles before the "Passion", re-enacted in church with the Mass in "Cena Domini", that is, the Lord's Supper. Legend has it that Ferdinand I of Bourbon, a glutton for fish and seafood that he used to cook with very sumptuous recipes and often of his own creation, was admonished by a Dominican friar, Gregorio Maria Rocco, who invited him not to exceed with sins of gluttony, at least during Holy Week. Then the sovereign, in order not to give up the mussels he liked so much, ordered the servants to prepare them for him in a simple and humble way. The resulting dish consisted of mussels, tomato sauce and hot pepper oil. Currently, the recipe for mussel soup has many variations, which are handed down from the family: in fact, there are those who prepare it only with mussels and those who also add clams and "purpitielli", those who make it ultra-spicy and those who almost do not add chili pepper. Below, I offer you my version of mussel soup!
Ingredients
Mussels 2 Kg
Octopus 1 1/300 Kg
Freselle 3 Kg
Extra virgin olive oil
Chili
pepper
Tomato sauce concentrate 1 g
Garlic cloves
White wine
Steps
Clean the octopus and cook it in a saucepan filled with water for about 40-50 minutes. Once cooked, cut the octopus into small pieces and save the water to wet the friselle. Sauté the garlic with the oil in a pan, when it is golden, add the tomato paste sauce, 2 cups of water and the chili pepper and let it simmer for 10-15 minutes. Clean the mussels well and, in a non-stick pan, brown a clove of garlic with oil, when it is golden remove the garlic and pour in the mussels, let it evaporate with white wine, then cover with the lid for about 5 minutes, the time for all the mussels to open spontaneously. Remove the mussels, filter the cooking water and add it to the octopus water. At this point, arrange the freselle on each plate, wet them with the water of the octopus and mussels, add the mussels, the octopus and, finally, the sauce to taste. Traditional Thursday mussel soup is served!
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